Cardiff 2135 AD Complete!
by Tylluan
Summary: Jack is running Torchwood Cardiff in the 22nd century. What happens when an alien invasion causes enough damage to threaten that which he holds most dear?
1. Chapter 1

"Report!" Jack cried out. He got up from the ground and looked around. Luckily, none of the buildings around him looked like they were about to topple over onto him. He stepped through the rubble, listening to the sounds of emergency vehicles moving about. His operatives all touched base through their com system and he breathed a sigh of relief that once again, they had survived the almost end of the world without losing any of the Torchwood staff.

As he walked back towards their base, he listened to the chatter as members of his team coordinated with emergency services, crowd control and dealing with whatever the rift had spit out at them this time. It was a comforting sound, and he knew that the city was in good hands with his team on the case.

"Captain?" A woman's voice called out to him, overriding the other voices. The minute they heard her, all chatter stopped in order to let her speak.

"Julia," he said, picturing the tall and elegant doctor who was a part of his team. "Everything okay downstairs?" He heard her sigh and involuntarily quickened his pace.

"Not exactly," she said, her voice sounding tense. Julia never sounded tense. The world could be coming down around her (and in fact had, several times in recent years) and still she had been able to maintain a level of calm that was miraculous. Jack knew that if she was rattled, then things had to be bad. And she was rattled if she wasn't referring to him by name. Once he got to a clear patch in the street he started to jog back to the Plass. "We have a problem."

"What's that, Jules?" He asked, pacing himself so that he could still talk over the com. He grew more concerned when she didn't respond immediately. "Talk to me, Dr. Ellis."

"We've received some heavy structural damage, Captain," Julia said. "In the vaults particularly. We have some cases of the cryogenic chambers being damaged."

"Shit," Jack said as he broke out into a run. He passed people who were milling about the street in confusion, trying to see what had caused the massive quake that had struck the city. He dodged around and amongst them as he worked his way back to the Hub. "Which ones?"

"We're still working on identifying them," Julia said. She was walking down the corridor as she spoke, her assistant following behind her. "I'm headed there now."

"Be careful, Julia," Jack panted. "Do not open anything that has a lock. That is an order." He bumped into someone as he turned the corner and heard a shout of protest as he kept on going. "I need to know which numbers. Julia, this is very important. I'm on my way, but I won't get there before you get down to the vaults. Check the computer for confirmation, but there are several very dangerous individuals being kept down there. We can't let them out." The com was notably silent as everyone else listened in on the conversation.

"If the life support systems fail, we have to let them out," Julia said firmly.

"No we don't," Jack said grimly. "Julia, promise me that you won't do anything until you talk to me."

"Jack, I am not going to let some poor person die in one of those coffins," she said angrily. "I don't care what they did, no one deserves that." She could hear Jack panting heavily as he ran.

"Julia, listen to me." Jack had to pause to catch his breath so he could speak. "There are murderers in those vaults. Aliens. People that could end the world if we let them out. Just be careful. You may not be able to keep them sedated for long, and I don't want to see you hurt."

"I'll be careful, Jack," she promised. She had reached the last turn and was headed down the hallway that led to the storage area. "I promise I won't open up anything with a lock without checking the records and talking to you. Happy?" She brushed back an errant lock of hair and increased her pace. Even from the archway she could see the gas from some of the chambers leaking out past the doors. "Just get here soon."

"On my way," Jack said. He shut off his mic and broke into a run, racing against time.

*

Julia and her medical assistant Gwri raced against time to identify each of the leaking caskets. Luckily for them, they were able to stabilize most of the more troublesome ones, in a couple of cases moving the body into another more secure chamber before it had thawed enough to be a problem. Julia could see that she wouldn't have wanted to deal with several of these – one of them was obviously a vampire, judging by the chains, garlic and crosses strapped to the body.

She hadn't heard from Jack again, and wasn't surprised to hear him turning the corner and slamming into the wall of the archway. She glanced up briefly, but continued to work efficiently to secure the casket that she had just sealed again.

"How's it going?" He gasped as he made his way into the chamber.

"Breathe, Jack." She said absently as she closed the door on the vampire. "Just one more."

"Which one?" Jack asked, scanning the vault doors. "Oh shit."

"What?" She asked. She followed his gaze to door number 403. "Trouble?"

"Yes," Jack said. He opened the door and pulled the tray out. Part of the glass had cracked and collapsed into the chamber near the foot of the body. "Damn. He's going to need medical care as soon as you open this." He looked up into her eyes and Julia recoiled at the look of anguish she saw there. "Please help him."

"Who?" She asked. She looked down at her medical scanner and ran it over the bar code at the top of the box. "He's Torchwood?"

"Yes, and hopefully medical science has advanced enough for you to be able to help him," Jack said. He turned and pulled a gurney over. "We need to get him up to the OR if you're going to be able to help him."

Gwri moved to help Jack pulled the box out of the vault and place it on the gurney. He looked curiously down but the glass was glazed over and he couldn't see the person inside.

"What's the medical on him?" Julia asked, her calm response helping Jack to keep focus.

"Alien laser blast to the chest in the early 21st century. The only thing I could do was to get him in the freezer. I've been waiting for a time that we could thaw him and cure him. I only hope that now is the time." Jack followed them as they made their way to the lift that would bring the casket up to the autopsy room/OR above them. Jack hovered while they moved the casket onto the lift and sent it upwards.

"Jack, I'll do what I can, but I can't make you promises. You know that, don't you?" Julia said. She paused at the doorway and placed a hand on his arm.

"Just try, please," Jack begged. "Do your best for him."

"I will. But you have to let me get up there," she said as she pulled away. "Time is of the essence." She started walking swiftly towards the stairs, thinking about possible advances in medicine that would help with a massive wound to the chest. Jack followed her, dogging her footsteps as she and Gwri climbed the stairs. She entered the main Hub and crossed it quickly, intent on what she needed for preparation. She called some orders to Gwri, asking for some instruments that were stored elsewhere that she thought would be helpful. Several other members of the team stopped what they were doing and watched the two senior members of the Torchwood team as they crossed over to the OR.

At the entrance Julia stopped and Jack bumped into her. "This is where you stop," she said. She turned around and put a hand to his chest. "If I'm going to save this man, I can't have you hovering."

"But," Jack protested. She shook her head and whatever else he was going to say died on his lips.

"No buts. You hover, I get nervous and I make a mistake. I can't afford that and neither can you," she said sternly. Gwri moved past her with several items in his hands and she watched as he began to prep the OR area. "So go. You can't argue there isn't plenty to do around here. That should keep you busy. And yes, I will give you updates as I know what's going on. But you can't be here." She could see Jack's bottom lip trembling with suppressed emotion. "I need to get started."

"Call me whatever happens." Jack said quietly. "If… if you think you can't help him. Let me know. I want to be there…." His voice dwindled down to a whisper as his throat closed up. "Oh, God."

"Jack," she said just as quietly. "Who is he?"

Jack looked up and she saw tears filling his eyes. "The other half of my soul, Julia. Please help him."


	2. Chapter 2

"I'll try my best," Julia replied. "Go help the children," she said with a nod. She turned him around so that he was facing the rest of the staff. "They need you." She heard him sigh and saw him square his shoulders. He headed off in the direction of the huddled group. She turned back and walked through the archway, the sterile field passing over her and disinfecting her skin and clothing. Below her, Gwri was almost set up. She pressed a button and the archway turned an opaque white color that would prevent anyone from outside from seeing what was going on. "Gwri, please kill the CCTV in the room. I don't want Jack peeking."

"Yes, ma'am," the young man said as he went over to the console and typed something in. "Done." Julia came down the steps and went over to the rack that held her supplies. She stripped and changed into a set of scrubs before donning her gloves.

"Let's see what we have. Do we have any records to go by?" She walked over to where her assistant was standing at the console. He pulled up the box number and a classified logo appeared. "Give the medical override," she said. He did so and several windows popped up. They both peered intently at the information.

"There's a CCTV video attached with a notation about the attack. Do you want to see it?" Gwri asked. Julia nodded and he hit the button to play it. The video played, showing a scene that looked to be a shopping area near the Plass. They saw several reptilian creatures attacking several people when Jack and another man ran into the camera shot. Jack started fighting one while the other man covered him with a gun. The video ended when the man was shot by one of their weapons, taking the blow to the middle of his chest. Gwri whistled as he watched.

"Ouch," he said. They watched as Jack went crazy, shooting the two aliens before grabbing the man at his feet and running off. The video ended and another window popped up with the doctor's notes from that time. Since the damage to the operative had been so extensive, the only thing they could do was to freeze him until medical science reached the point where they could save him. Julia only hoped that the damage wasn't so severe that she couldn't fix it. She wasn't sure what Jack would say if she had to tell him that she didn't have the ability to heal this man.

"All right, I've seen enough. Prep up and let's crack the case. We're going to have to move him and start while he's still frozen. From what the notes said, they didn't have any time to do any clean up, so when he starts to revive it's going to be as if it had just happened. Let's see if we can get ahead of the curve so he doesn't bleed out onto the table." Gwri nodded and turned to change into his scrubs.

The medical team worked quickly, each moving around one another in an intricate dance brought about by a long association with one another. They attached monitoring equipment, intravenous tubes, saline and plasma bags after moving the body onto the operating table. Gwri worked to clean the area, though it was difficult while the body was frozen. They knew they were working with a limited time span since the body temperature would rise up to match the room. They kept the temperature in the room low for that reason, since it would give them more time to work.

Julia did some isolated surgery, using the latest technology to repair the internal damage to organs and trying to minimize the trauma of the wound. Gwri kept a watchful eye on the monitors, ready to catch any drop in the readings. Several hours passed as they worked. Julia heard her com ding several times and she ignored it, intent on getting everything done before reviving the man before her. She could feel that the flesh was getting warmer as it became more pliable in her hands. She grew more hopeful as she went along, since she had been able to deal with the worst of the traumatic injuries and repair them with the nanotechnology they had been able to adapt from some UNIT research several decades before. It was now refined to the point that she could do specific repairs without further internal investigation. She watched the display from the nanocams that transmitted the information to the external monitors.

When her com pinged for the eighth time in as many hours, she felt comfortable enough to finally answer.

"Yes, Captain," she said. Gwri looked up briefly before shaking his head and going back to what he was doing.

"Update?" Was all Jack asked.

"I am cautiously optimistic," she replied. She heard Jack sigh in response. "We've been able to stabilize his vitals and repair the worst of the damage. I'm running diagnostics on the rest right now to assess where we need to go next. We need to take a break anyhow, so this is as good as any place to stop for a bit."

"Can I sit with him?" Jack asked softly. When he didn't get an immediate response he followed that with one word. "Please?"

"I'm not sure what good it will do either of you. He's out cold and you'll be just see him hooked up to all the machines. Are you sure you want to do that?" Julia asked.

"Yes," Jack said. She considered it for a moment. It really wouldn't do either of them any harm, so she gave her permission. By the time she had changed out of her scrubs and passed through the sterile field, she found Jack waiting on the other side. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the floor, giving her a mighty hug.

"Stop that, you Neanderthal!" She cried, batting at him ineffectually. He laughed and spun her around, making the other staff members pause in what they were doing. "Jack, really!" He put her down gently, but still kept his arms around her.

"Thank you," he said, smiling down at her. "You're the best."

"I'm not done yet. Don't thank me until you see the final results," she cautioned him. He wasn't paying attention. "You can go in, but don't touch anything! Gwri will be there, but he'll be coming out in a few moments to get some food and we'll rest before checking back. You have an hour or so before we come back to finish. So behave yourself," she said, shaking her finger at him. "No molesting the patient!"

Jack laughed, looking the most carefree she had ever seen him in her fifteen years of working for Torchwood. He pulled back and gave her a smart salute.

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" He said. She pushed him in the direction of the archway. Giving her a blinding smile, he passed through into the operating theatre. Because the opaque shading was still in effect, she could only see him as a vague shape moving away from the entranceway and down the stairs. Dismissing him from her mind, she went to go get some food and a well deserved trip to the washroom.

Inside the room Jack paused halfway down the steps as he looked down at where Ianto was laying on the table. Gwri was just finishing up putting some of their instruments into a bin to be sterilized and he looked up and gave the older man a nod. Jack turned his gaze back to the man on the table, his eyes tracing pathway of tubes going into veins, the cables attached to the chest and head to monitor vitals, and onto the machines that whirred and beeped softly as they monitored his body. A cloth covered most of his chest, protecting the open area where they had paused during the surgery. Jack cautiously made his way down the remaining steps before hesitating for a long moment.

"It's okay, he can't bite you," Gwri said with a grin. "Yet." He watched as his boss approached the table, almost apprehensively.

"Julia said that he was stable," Jack said. He passed through the secondary sterilization field as he entered the final circle that surrounded Ianto.

"He is. Personally, I think he's doing very well, considering," Gwri said. He had a lot of military field medical experience that he brought with him from working with UNIT in the past, and had seen a lot in his time. "He won't be running a marathon anytime soon, but I think he'll be with us for some time to come."

Jack sighed; relaxing tense muscles as he finally got close enough to touch Ianto. His eyes hungrily scanned features that he hadn't seen for over a hundred years, other than in CCTV videos and his dreams. Ianto looked the same as he remembered, though his face was pale due to the nature of his injuries and the cryogenic process. He hadn't dared to hope that they would be able to repair the damage, but his mind also hadn't been able to consider the alternative. It was a good thing that it looked like he wouldn't have to think of that anymore.

"What's going on now?" Jack asked. Gwri paused and checked the monitors before looking under the sheet draped across Ianto's torso.

"We're letting the NCRBs work," he said. At Jack's blank look he elaborated on the acronym. "Nano-Cellular Regeneration Bots. They're stitching together the tiny tears and rips that can't be seen, but are present inside. They're also encouraging blood regeneration and…" Jack held up a hand to stop him from getting too technical. "Oh, sorry boss. Too geeky?"

"Just a little bit," Jack admitted. He wandered about the room, looking at Ianto from different angles. Then he moved back and stared at Gwri for a moment. "Can I…" Jack hesitated. "Can… I touch him?"

"Hands only," Gwri cautioned and Jack nodded. He hooked one of the nearby stools with his boot and pulled it over to the side of the table. Sitting down gingerly, he looked at Ianto. Gwri was still moving around him, but Jack filtered out everything but the man in front of him. He reached out and stroked the back of Ianto's hand. The skin was cool to the touch, but didn't have that rigidity that signified that he was still cryogenically preserved. Jack's eyes moved onto the equipment, monitoring the vitals. To his inexpert eye, they looked to be okay. Jack let out a breath of relief. He mentally went over all of the things he wanted to say when Ianto was eventually awake. It was going to be one hell of a conversation.


	3. Chapter 3

Gwri stepped out to get something to eat, leaving Jack alone with Ianto. The only sounds in the room were from the equipment. He sat there motionless, afraid to do anything that would make things worse. It seemed like no time had passed before Julia walked through the archway again, wearing a new set of scrubs.

"Time's up," Julia said as she descended the stairs. She thought Jack had behaved himself rather well, since she had been watching him remotely from the cameras using her medical override while she took her break. She came to a stop next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "He's doing really well, Jack."

"I expect nothing less with you on the job," Jack said with a gentle smile. "I should get out of here so you can continue."

"That would be helpful," Julia said, matching his smile with one of her own. "Once we're finished we're going to keep him sedated, so we can build up his strength. Don't expect to see him conscious until late tomorrow or even the next morning. The longer he has time to recover, the better his chances will be once he's awake." Jack nodded. "Go on with you now. And wake up my lazy assistant and send him back in."

"Will do," Jack said. He put his arm around her and hugged her. "Thanks, you're amazing."

"I know," she said as she shooed him in the direction of the stairs. "Go."

"I'm going, I'm going!" Jack said with a laugh. She could see that he was much more relaxed than he had been at the start of the day when everything had gone south on them. As soon as he went up the stairs she prepped to continue the work and got started, not waiting for Gwri to come back.

Several more hours passed until she was satisfied that they were finished. She closed up, using dermaskin to seal the wound and keep it from getting infected. To the unpracticed eye, it looked like real skin, though a medical professional could see where the seams were. She gave Gwri instructions on keeping the patient sedated before shutting down all non essential equipment. The sterile field was constant in the room, so she just changed the shading back to clear so that someone could look in when they needed to – she also reactivated the cameras, since the vital work was done and this would allow them to monitor the patient remotely.

"Go home, Kip," she said to Gwri, referring to him by his Torchwood nickname. The man had the uncanny ability to take catnaps at the drop of a hat. It probably came from his days in the Army when he never knew when he was going to be able to rest as a medic. He nodded and left the Hub, having put in more than a full day's worth of work. The usual for a Torchwood staff member, she thought wryly as she left the theatre and entered the main Hub.

The lights were dim, set to night mode since most of the staff had left for the evening. On call were Sherry and Todd, two of the newer operatives who had only been working at Torchwood for about a year or so. Sherry looked up as she heard Julia's steps on the metal stairs.

"Going home?" She asked. Julia shook her head and sat down at the console that was her desk when she wasn't in the other room. Julia tapped at the keys, setting up a monitoring program. "You should really get some rest."

"I will, but someone needs to monitor the patient in case something goes wrong." Julia circled her head on her neck to work off the stiffness from having been looking down for hours on end while she worked. "I'll probably crash on the sofa, but if this alarm goes off wake me." She stood up and groaned as her muscles protested. "I'm getting too old for this job."

"Nonsense," Todd said as he soldered something onto a circuit board. "You're in your prime, Julia."

"Tell me that after you spent fourteen hours standing at an operating table," she said wryly. He grinned at her and she shook her head. Children. She just wished she had their energy now that she was pushing fifty. She got up and moved over to the old sofa and decided she'd just crash until someone woke her.

*


	4. Chapter 4

Two days later Jack was called out on a rift hit that dumped something way out in Wenwoe. He took along Todd and Rob, promising to be back soon. Julia meant to ask if she should wait before allowing Ianto to wake, but the coms were down due to severe thunderstorms affecting their communications. It was actually later than she had planned since the morning had been busy with a minor emergency that she had to help the local hospital with. It was now early afternoon. She debated whether it was better to have Jack there and hovering, or to give Ianto time to get assimilated before Jack pounced on him.

"What do you think, Kip?" She asked. He came out of a light doze and looked at her. Sighing, she repeated the debate she had been considering.

"I'd wake him now," Gwri said. "Besides, it may take until they get back for the poor man to regain his senses. Better do it now."

"You're right," she said firmly. "Let's do it." Together they went down to the theatre where they started the process of weaning Ianto off of the sedatives that had been keeping him under. Gwri kept a sharp eye on the monitors, watching for some sort of response.

After twenty minutes, they logged limb movement as Ianto entered into a normal state of unconsciousness. They had pulled off all of the respiratory and intravenous equipment the night before, so all that was connected were the standard monitors for heart rate, breathing and brainwaves. All looked normal and Julia silently sighed in relief that everything was going to plan.

An hour later their patient showed signs of regaining consciousness. Both Julia and Gwri hovered, waiting for him to open his eyes. After a few attempts he finally did. Blinking blearily, she saw that he was attempting to focus on her face.

"Good afternoon," she said, smiling down at him. "How are you feeling, Ianto?"

"Wha?" Ianto attempted to speak but found his throat was too dry to make a sound. He felt something like water dribble past his lips and he sucked on the straw for a moment before it was pulled away.

"Take your time. You've had some trauma, but we were able to repair it," Julia said, nodding to Gwri to give him another sip of water. "Easy now," she said when he coughed a few times.

"What happened?" Ianto rasped. He didn't recognize the woman in front of him and he was feeling very disoriented. From the tiles above her head, it was obvious that he was in the autopsy room, but he had no recollection of what happened to get him there or who she was.

"You got shot," she said, knowing that he probably had a ton of questions. "Jack brought you back."

"Who are.." Ianto asked, beginning to focus more on his surroundings. He moved his head to look at Gwri before turning back to her.

"I'm Dr. Julia Ellis. I did the surgery on you," she said. "On the other side is Gwri Morris, who assisted me."

"Jack?" Ianto asked. "Gwen?" His voice was getting stronger the longer he was conscious.

"Jack's out dealing with the rift," she said neatly sidestepping the other name. Jack was going to have to be the one to deal with that. "He should be back soon. In the meantime, stay here and rest."

Ianto closed his eyes, feeling a bit dizzy. He could hear them moving around him and he wondered where they had come from. Perhaps borrowed from UNIT. Jack must have called in some favors. He cautiously moved his limbs. Strangely, nothing hurt, though he felt very tired.

"Think you can sit up?" Gwri asked. Ianto opened his eyes and thought about it for a moment. Nodding, he accepted Gwri's assistance as the other man put an arm around his back and helped him to sit up. He experienced a moment of vertigo and was glad for the supporting arm around him. "Easy now," Gwri said encouragingly. After a moment or two, Ianto opened his eyes again. Gwri moved him so that his legs were hanging off the side of the bed he was on. "How's that?"

"Okay," Ianto said cautiously. He felt a hitch in his side, but the feeling was starting to fade. He peeked under his Johnny and didn't see any sign of sutures or bandages. It made him wonder where he had been shot. The doctor was busy making notations at the computer as she watched him. Gwri had some clothes for him and helped him get dressed. They were obviously his, since they fit well. He sighed with relief as he began to feel more normal. Gwri encouraged him to get up and begin walking around the small room so he could get his coordination back. With every move he made, he felt stronger. The familiar sounds of a siren echoed through the small room as someone entered the Hub. Julia looked up and hurried up the stairs. She wanted to run interference.

Todd and Rob came through the door first, laughing and joking about something that had happened. Between them, they carried a box which they dumped down next to the nearest console. Todd nodded to Julia before heading off down below to wash up. Both he and Rob were covered with some sort of goo. Julia wrinkled her nose at the smell. Rob indicated that Jack was following behind them and she nodded. He then went off in the direction Todd had gone, presumably to clean up.

A minute later Jack followed them through the door, shrugging out of his greatcoat as he stepped across the entryway. He stopped abruptly when he saw her, the coat halfway down his arms.

"Well?" He asked, almost bouncing.

"He's awake," she said but put up a hand to forestall him. "We haven't told him a thing, other than that he had been shot and that we performed the surgery." Jack stopped and nodded. "Remember that to him, no time has passed. He probably thinks it's the next day or something, and that probably we're on loan from hospital."

"How is he?" Jack asked.

"He's okay. Getting stronger the longer he's awake. But please remember that anything you tell him is bound to be a shock. I don't know if you ever had a contingency plan for something like this, and whether he was on board with it." From the look of chagrin on Jack's face she rather suspected that he hadn't discussed it with his operative before he put him in the cryo tank. She lowered her voice so it wouldn't carry. "Keep that all in mind, and be prepared for some anger. After all, everything he's known, _everyone_ he's known other than you is now gone."

"To tell you the truth, I hadn't thought of that," Jack admitted. He rubbed his face with his hand. "I'll deal with it." He said softly. He looked down at himself and pulled his coat back on. Settling the collar as if he were going off to the firing squad, he squared his shoulders and headed over to the other room.


	5. Chapter 5

As Jack went through the archway, he paused uncertainly on the threshold.

Ianto looked up as he heard a noise on the landing above him. There was Jack in all his glory. They stared at one another for a moment before Jack launched himself down the short staircase, almost leaping over the last several stairs in an effort to get down to Ianto sooner.

"Hey," he said with a grin. Gwri was still there hovering behind Ianto, ready to catch him in case he wasn't feeling up to stay standing. Jack crossed the small area in three large steps and lightly clasped Ianto's shoulders. "You're a sight for sore eyes."

"Miss me?" Ianto asked lightly. He had braced himself against the bed with his arms to help him stay upright. Jack nodded, suddenly at a loss for words. After a moment he glanced over at Gwri and jerked his head towards the door. Gwri nodded and after giving Ianto a pat on the back went up the stairs and left. He passed through the archway and saw that Julia was pacing back and forth in front of her computer.

"Do we watch what happens?" He asked. She looked up, startled to see that he was thinking the same thing she was.

"I think so. We need to monitor Ianto for… medical reasons. He may have a set back or something," she said. He grinned while she tied them into the CCTV system and she brought up the sound. The rest of the staff gathered around to watch behind them. They wanted to see the man that had been making Jack bounce off the walls for the last several days.

Neither Jack nor Ianto had moved. They just looked at one another for a long moment before Jack leaned in and gave Ianto a kiss. Gwri noticed that Ianto's hands crumpled the sheets as he fought to hold his position. "Wow," Gwri said.

"We really shouldn't be watching this," Julia muttered. "But just in case this all goes poorly, we need to be ready to jump in." She had never seen Jack with anyone else before. She supposed he had been waiting all this time for Ianto to be returned to him.

Jack pulled back reluctantly and Ianto opened his eyes, a dreamy expression on his face.

"How are you feeling?" He asked softly. He moved closer so that he brushed his hips against Ianto.

"Surprisingly well, considering the doctor you brought in told me she had to do surgery," Ianto said. "How long was I out of it?" He noticed that Jack had looked down and seemed to be avoiding his eyes.

"Erm well," Jack stumbled for a moment and Ianto got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. "A while," he admitted.

"A while?" Ianto repeated. Jack nodded. "How long of a while?" Jack was playing with his hand and Ianto used the other one to reach under Jack's chin and push it up so that Jack had to meet his gaze. "Jack, answer me."

"A long while," Jack said softly. Ianto stared at him, waiting for him to continue. When Jack finally did speak, it all came out in a rush, as if it he said it all at once, he'd be able to get it out. "Ianto, you got shot by a Baliarian particle weapon. Full in the chest. I didn't know what to do. You were bleeding to death right in front of my eyes. So I ran back here to the Hub and…"

"Oh God," Ianto said softly. "Please tell me you didn't." Jack looked back down again and nodded. "You did."

"I didn't know what else to do, Ianto. So I put you in cryo," Jack admitted. His joy at seeing Ianto in one piece warred with the knowledge that Ianto would never have wanted him to do what he did.

"Damn it, Jack, didn't you listen to anything I said?" Ianto was extremely upset. He pushed Jack backwards and moved to the other side of the room. He was so angry he couldn't see straight. "I told you no heroic measures, damn it!" He gripped the bottom of the railing that surrounded the room and clung to it. If he didn't, he was liable to wrap his hands around Jack's neck. "How long?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"Ianto," he heard Jack approach him but refused to look at him. "Please." Jack paused a step away from him, one hand outstretched. "It was the only way."

"No it wasn't, and you know it, Jack. You could have let me go. But you just couldn't, could you?" There was no answer from the man behind him. "What year is it?"

"Ianto," Jack pleaded. This was not going the way he had hoped, though he knew he shouldn't be surprised. Ianto had made his feelings abundantly clear in the past.

"Jack, answer me." Ianto said, his throat tight. "Or do I have to go find out from whomever is on staff these days?"

"2135," Jack said quietly. Ianto rested his head against one of the upright columns of the railing. "I'm sorry." He tried to touch Ianto on the shoulder and Ianto pulled away.

"Don't," Ianto said. He was still trying to process the implications of what Jack had told him. He moved up the stairs and turned to put out a hand to stop Jack. "I.. I need some time to think. I'm going topside. Please don't follow me."

Jack's protest died before it formed as he saw the look on Ianto's face. He watched the younger man climb the stairs and stumble his way out of the room.

In the main room Ianto scanned the group of people who turned to watch, his eyes falling on the only recognizable faces that were there. "I need some air."

Gwri pulled his I.D. out and gave it to Ianto. "This will get you back inside. Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, I need to be alone right now," Ianto said as he took the see through card from Gwri. "I take it the Bay is still there?" At the other man's nod he turned towards the open cog door and went through it. While the door remained the same, obviously the lift had been updated since the last time he had seen it. He pressed the button and went through the doors when it opened. Hitting the up button he leaned against the wall. His breathing was harsh to his own ears. His thoughts were racing chaotically. His instinct was to run. To run and get away. If he got away, he could think. Think on what to do, and what had happened. When the doors opened he went down the stone corridor and pressed the button that opened the false wall.

The Tourist Center didn't look as he remembered. It was all light, airy and glass, like a curio shop or something. A young woman looked up and stared at him with her mouth open in astonishment. He turned left and went to the door. It was locked.

"Please open it," he said. He felt like he was suffocating. She pressed a button and the lock opened. Pulling the door towards him, he went through it as soon as there was enough space to do so. A light breeze ruffled his hair as he closed it behind him and leaned against the door. He looked around. The dock was still there, and it gave him a false sense of security that nothing had changed. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly. He pushed away from the door and walked down the boardwalk until he reached the Plass.

The Millennium Centre was still there, as was the water tower. But the rest of the surrounding area was all new construction. His mind refused to see it and he focused only on the railing along the harbor. He walked over to it and stood against the railing. It was quiet and it seemed like there was no one about. That was good news for him. It allowed him to just focus on the water and the picturesque boats that floated in the Bay.


	6. Chapter 6

Back in the Hub Jack had waited until he heard Ianto leave before he returned to the main room. Without speaking to anyone he went over to Todd's station and turned on the surveillance cameras for the Bay. None of his staff spoke to him, unnerved as they were by the expression on his face. Todd stood back and watched as he manipulated the cameras so that they followed the man who had just walked out. When the man leaned against the railing and rested his head in his hands, Jack let out a deep sigh.

A step behind him warned him of Julia's quiet presence behind him. "You were right," he said dully. "I don't know how I could have handled it differently, though."

Julia rested her hand on Jack's shoulder. "Give him time. He just needs to process what happened." She tugged on Jack's arm and pulled him away from the monitors so that Todd could get back to work. "He'll come back."

"Of course he will," Jack said, his voice bitter. "Because he has no place else left to go." He turned away from her, shoulders hunched and headed to his office. No one spoke as he left.

"Well, that could have gone worse," Gwri said. Julia just looked at him and he shrugged. She crossed her arms. "Which one of us should go out there, you or me?" Gwri asked. She turned her glance back to the monitors.

"Let him come back on his own. If he needs answers, we'll be there for him," she said.

Back out on the Bay, Ianto stared at the water, his whirling thoughts beginning to slow as he processed what he knew. He was alone; his family long gone, his friends all passed as well. He thought about how that felt, that everyone he had known other than Jack was dead. He felt numb. Even the anger he initially felt was gone. He stood there, leaning against the rail, happy that he didn't have to think. Didn't have to feel. He could just be. A seagull cried out overhead and he looked up, his eyes following its movements as it caught the air currents with its wings.

He was surprised that no one had come after him, but was grateful for the respite. It allowed him to think, or not to as the case may be. He stayed out there until he felt the evening chill as the sun started to go down. He sighed. He wasn't getting anything accomplished out here, and he was sure that if he made himself sick the doctor wouldn't be too pleased with him, either. And he didn't want to be a burden on this new team anymore than he had been already.

He slowly made his way back the way he had come. This time, he took his time so he could look at the differences a hundred or more so years had made. In some places there was the classic architecture he recognized, and in others there were new modern buildings which dotted the waterfront. It appealed to his sense of aesthetics to view the combination together.

Eventually, he reached the door to the Tourist Office, or whatever it was these days. There was a sign in Welsh on the wall next to the door and he saw that it was still a Tourist Information Center. Well, he supposed some things still wouldn't change. He pulled the card out of his pocket and examined it. It looked like a Lucite credit card with some information on it. It was too dark for him to see, but it must have some information embedded in it if it acted as a key. He passed it by the sensor and the door clicked open.

Stepping inside, he saw that the office was empty. He walked around curiously, reacquainting himself with the space. When he had done that, he looked for the button that would release the door. There wasn't one there. Glancing at the wall, he saw there was a similar plate to the one he had used outside, so he passed the card in front of that and the wall clicked open. He assumed he was being watched, by Jack if not some of the other operatives.

He took the stairs this time, making his way slowly. The cog wheel was open, so he walked through the door without the usual fanfare. He paused at the entrance and swept the room with his eyes. The doctor whose name he had already forgotten was sitting in a chair reading a report. There was no sign of the medic who had loaned him the access card. To the left of the doctor at what would have been the area Tosh used was a young man with ginger hair. He was busy typing on a keyboard, occasionally looking up before going back to reading something off to one side of his keyboard. At Gwen's old station was another man who looked a bit more military. He had short dark hair and wore a t-shirt and something that sort of looked like jeans. Off to one side was the girl he had startled upstairs. She smiled at him, the only one to acknowledge him so far. He walked over to where she sat. She had a cat in her lap.

"Hello," she said, giving him a smile. "I'm Sherry."

"Hi," Ianto responded. "I'm Ianto." He took a seat on the sofa. It was not the same one that he remembered, but it still managed to look battered from overuse. He noticed that the others drifted over, as if his return gave them permission to stop work.

"How are you doing?" The doctor asked. Ianto shrugged. "If you don't remember, I'm Julia." She took a seat next to him and watched him closely. "Any headache? No uncomfortable pain or anything?"

"No, thank you," Ianto said politely. "I actually feel fine. You did a lovely job."

"I'm happy to hear that," she said. She made the introductions for the rest of the group. "Let me introduce you to the rest of the team. That," she pointed to the dark haired man, "is Rob. He's our liaison with the police and government." Rob nodded to him and said hello. "The ginger one is Todd. He's our resident geek." Ianto smiled at him. "Sherry is our operations and control person. She also handles any paperwork, archiving and PR that we may need."

"PR?" Ianto asked with a raised eyebrow. "My, how things have changed."

"Yes," Julia said with a small smile. "You already met Kip, who is off somewhere." She noticed Ianto's blank stare. "His name is Gwri, but we call him Kip because that's what he does if there's nothing going on." The rest of the group chuckled and Ianto smiled. "Everyone, this is Ianto Jones. He is a long standing member of Torchwood Three. So technically, he outranks all of us."

"Hardly," Ianto said drily. "Thank you for the welcome. I'm sure this is just as strange for you as it is for me."

"Any questions that we can answer for you?" Julia asked. Ianto cocked his head as he thought about it for a moment.

"Just one," he said. She looked at him and waited for him to continue. "I don't suppose you still have coffee here, do you?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Yup," Sherry said as she stood up. The cat meowed in protest and ran off under a table somewhere. A screech could be heard overhead and Ianto looked up.

"It can't be," he said, peering intently.

"It is," Todd said. "Myfanwy's still here. We don't know how long her species lives, but obviously without natural predators it's a long lifespan."

"Amazing," Ianto said. He sat back and smiled. For some reason, finding that Myfanwy was still around was a comfort. It made him feel like he wasn't alone. He accepted the mug that Sherry gave him. "Thank you." He held the mug up and inhaled the aroma. Hopefully it tasted halfway decent. He was pleasantly surprised as he took a sip. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Okay, I'm beginning to feel a bit more human now."

A chuckle made him turn his head and he saw the medic approach. He fished out the access card and gave it to the other man. "Hi, and thanks."

"Anytime, mate." Gwri said. He sat on the floor next to the sofa. "I see you've found the coffee."

"Yes, thank you. I was afraid that no one drank it anymore," Ianto said. More and more he felt a little bit more normal as he saw that things hadn't really changed all that much from what he remembered. "If it didn't exist I would have had to kill myself from despair."

"Oh, don't say that," Julia exclaimed. "I just put you back together again."

"No worries, because there's still coffee," Ianto said.

"This place would grind to a stop without it," Gwri said with a grin. "We've never get anything done." Ianto smiled down at him.

"And you'd never stay conscious," Rob said with a smile. Gwri stuck his tongue out at the other man.

"What would you like to do now?" Julia asked and Ianto turned to look at her. "If you want, you are more than welcome to come home with any of us. Give you time to get used to life in the twenty second century." She could see from his eyes that he wouldn't take her up on the suggestion.

"No thank you," he said as he shook his head. "I wouldn't want to impose on any of you and I still have some unfinished business here." He turned and looked towards Jack's office.

"Still want to strangle him?" Gwri asked and Ianto looked down into the other man's smiling eyes.

"Yes, but what good would that do?" Ianto asked. "He'll just come back to annoy me." Gwri grinned at his comment. "No, as much as I would like to, I can't fault Jack. If it were reversed, I would do the same for him." He looked back up thoughtfully. "Might as well deal with it now." He stood up and Sherry took the mug from him. He left the group seated around the sofa and headed across an old and familiar path.

Jack had obviously been watching what had been going on, and he left his office and met Ianto half way. He looked apprehensive, not sure what Ianto had decided. Ianto stopped and looked at him. Jack looked mostly unchanged. He wore the same outfit that Ianto had always known him to wear. There was a bit more grey around his temples, but other than the lines of worry on his face he looked the same.

Jack watched him anxiously, not sure what the younger man was going to say to him. He started to open his mouth and stopped as Ianto raised his hand to stop him. He waited to see what Ianto would do.

Ianto felt all eyes upon him. It was obvious that the group behind him had heard their argument earlier. He didn't know how much they knew about him, but at the moment he didn't really care. He waited a moment, drawing out the suspense that obviously Jack was feeling. When he felt that had gone on long enough he took a few steps forward until he was directly in front of Jack. He stared into his eyes and saw the pain and regret in Jack's eyes. Reaching up, he cupped Jack's face with his hands and leaned in for a kiss.

Jack carefully wrapped his arms around Ianto and held him for the first time in over a century. When Ianto pulled back, he gently brushed away the tears that were rolling down Jack's cheeks. He heard a soft sigh behind him and couldn't hold back a chuckle. Obviously their audience approved.

"Are we okay?" Jack asked softly. He reveled in the feeling of Ianto in his arms again.

"Yeah, we're okay," Ianto said and rested his forehead against Jack. "I just needed some time."

"I'm sorry," Jack said. That was the only refrain which had been going through his head since Ianto had first walked away from him.

"This is not over, we still need to talk. But it's okay for now," Ianto said. Jack nodded and Ianto pulled away before turning back to the group. "You have a good team here."

"Always do," Jack said as he surveyed the group seated a short distance away from them. "Okay people, show's over. Get back to work." They started to break up and go back to what they were doing before Ianto had returned.

Ianto watched as they moved back to different places before he slanted a glance at Jack again. As the pterodactyl screeched overhead he looked up. "Good to see some things haven't changed."

"Want to say hello?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded. "Let me go get her treat for you." Jack walked back up to his office. Ianto took the time to survey the room around him. In some ways the configuration hadn't really changed, though a close look at the technology showed that there had been a lot of advances over the past one hundred and twenty five years since he had last seen it. He had a lot of unanswered questions and he planned to have a long chat with Jack about it so he could catch up. The sound of a shoe on the stairs behind him let him know that Jack was returning. A bar of chocolate appeared before him as Jack held it out in front of him.

"Coffee and chocolate. Good to know that some things haven't changed," Ianto said as he took the large bar from Jack. A chuckle met his comment and he moved forward to the other side of the water tower where there was enough room for Myfanwy to land on the floor. He unwrapped the bar as he passed Todd's station. The young man gave him a wink as he nodded to him. Jack remained where he was and just watched.

Once he was in the open area he whistled. All movement from the team stopped as they looked in his direction. The screech of Myfanwy's call sounded louder as she circled above him. He tilted his head back and watched her as she drifted on the air currents. She seemed to be moving in some sort of intricate pattern, clearly agitated. He waited patiently as she swooped downwards before soaring upwards again. It had been a while for her. After a few turns she landed on a girder and crooned softly. He waved the chocolate, knowing she'd be able to smell it. She squawked and canted her head to one side. He smiled and whistled softly again. She took off again, swooped around a couple of times before landing a short distance away from him.

"Hello there," Ianto said fondly. She looked absolutely the same to him, and he marveled that she had survived for so long. She waddled over to where he stood, looking as awkward as ever out of the air. He held out part of the chocolate bar and she crouched down so that she was below his hand. She tilted her head and opened her mouth as if she were a baby bird looking for food from a parent.

Ianto heard a soft exclamation behind him as Sherry murmured something about never having seen her do that before. Ianto lowered his hand and dropped the piece of chocolate into Myfanwy's mouth. She lifted up her head and swallowed it before repeating her action again. He stepped closer to her and stroked her beak as she crooned again to him. Bit by bit he fed her the large bar until it was gone. Once it was, she butted her head against his chest before moving off and leaping up onto a bar that would give her enough room to fly again. Once she took off he stood for a long moment, watching her.

"Wow," Sherry said softly from somewhere behind him. He turned and absently folded the empty wrapper in his hands. "I've never seen her act that way around anyone like that before."

"We go back a ways," Ianto said quietly. He turned to her and smiled. "There's always a surprise or two lurking around here." She nodded and took the paper from him. He wandered around the room, getting familiar again with everything. He had an odd sensation of two images of the Hub overlapping one another. The one he remember as if he had only seen it the day before and the one he was standing in now. While it had certainly changed, even in the time he had worked there (necessary changes due to structural collapses after Abbadon and that issue when the government tried to blow the Hub up,) there were some things that had remained the same since it was first built. The same dirty walls from the old subway system were still there, and he saw that they still had a hot house of some kind in the level above him. He walked around the perimeter of the room, taking it all in.

He stopped abruptly when he saw the painting of the Welsh dragon still on the wall. Tosh had painted that. He remembered the night when they were doing rift duty and she had pulled out her paints and started painting. He smiled, happy to see that it had survived the years. He felt a hand on his shoulder and leaned back against Jack. "I'm glad you kept that." Jack rested his chin on Ianto's shoulder.

"It's so Welsh, how could I not?" Jack said softly, his voice pitched so that only Ianto heard his comment.

"A symbol of Wales painted by a Japanese woman," Ianto said, his smile expanding as he chuckled. "Definitely a keeper." He felt Jack nod.


	8. Chapter 8

"What would you like to do now?" Jack asked him. He shrugged, feeling at loose ends at the moment. "Hungry?"

"Yeah, I think I am," Ianto said. He felt an emptiness inside from only having liquids the last few days. "What passes for food these days?"

"Still a lot of the usual stuff," Jack said lightly as he pulled back and wrapped an arm around Ianto's shoulders. They turned and started walking back towards Jack's office. "Eat in or go out?"

"Take away would probably be best," Ianto said. He didn't want to have to leave the Hub just yet. "Do they still do that?"

"Absolutely," Jack said with the grin. "Do you think we'd be able to survive without it?" Ianto shook his head and chuckled. "Who's up for dinner?" Jack asked, raising his voice. It sounded like everyone was interested, so he delegated Sherry to pick a restaurant with the caution that it be something suitably ethnic and pick out enough for everyone. She nodded and went upstairs to put in the order. "Want the rest of the tour?" Ianto nodded. Jack pointed out his office, which hadn't really changed, as well as the hot house. "You already know the autopsy room," he said.

"OR," Julia corrected from where she was sitting. "I refused to call it anything else," she said firmly. Ianto smiled at her. She was obviously a match for Jack. Ianto was happy to see that Jack had someone to keep him grounded.

"Whatever," Jack said blithely and tugged Ianto in the direction of one of the archways. "Archives haven't changed much, though we remodeled the boardroom again," he said.

"Still have Weevils downstairs?" Ianto said as he followed Jack through the door and down the hallway. Jack nodded. "It never ends, does it?"

"Yeah, you'd think they'd run out of the population from wherever they come from, but they must be good at making little Weevils," Jack said with a chuckle. He led Ianto down to the vaults where they inspected the occupants. There were a few other alien races locked up and several of them were quite violent when they saw the two humans. Jack just looked at them as he passed by, naming their races to Ianto as they passed. The last cell had a Weevil. Ianto paused and looked at Jack.

"Eleanor," Jack said. Ianto nodded before following Jack through the door. Some things obviously never changed.

The two men wandered through the various levels, Jack pointing out changes that had been made over time, though most of it looked the same to Ianto. For all the damage that occurred to the main Hub room, the vaults and archives remained constant. Eventually they were called up to the boardroom since dinner had arrived.

When they got there, the rest of the staff were already seated. The chair at the end that Jack always sat in was left empty, as well as one on the side of the table. Jack and Ianto paused outside of the room and listened to the chatter as the staff squabbled amiably. With a grin Jack gestured for Ianto to enter the room.

Ianto walked through the threshold and looked around. The interior was done up in a rich ash wood stained a light color. It made the room seem airy; the glass tabletop reflected the lights hanging above it. They took their seats, Ianto sitting only after Jack had taken the seat at the head of the table.

"What do we have tonight?" Jack asked.

"Indian, from the smell," Ianto said. Sherry nodded and smiled at him before passing one of the open containers to him from where she sat next to him. He dished out a portion onto his plate before handing the container to Jack. The group rotated the various dishes and soon was quiet as they all began to eat.

Ianto inhaled, enjoying the familiar smell. He was getting more comfortable as time showed that not a lot had changed. As they sated their appetites the conversation started up again. Todd and Rob tended to tease Sherry a lot, but she gave as good as she got and Gwri usually sided with her to keep things even. Julia stayed out of it for the most part, only commenting to stop an argument when it began to erupt. Jack remained silent, content to watch his group banter with one another.

"So," Todd said with a nod to Ianto. "Up to sharing your story?" He voiced the question they had all been dying to ask since they first met the man. The only ones in the room who had any indication of who he was were Julia and Gwri other than Jack, and that information was only because they had access to his records for medical purposes. Neither of them had been willing to share any of those details and so the rest of the group had to wait until they could ask him themselves.

Ianto glanced at Jack who shrugged. "Not much to tell."

"There's always a tale involved if you're Torchwood," Rob said quietly. Ianto nodded in acknowledgement. That much was certain.

"Look, you don't have to answer anything," Sherry said. "Really, it's none of our business. But I have to admit we're all rather curious." Ianto smiled at her and she blushed before looking down at her plate. He found her adorable.

"All right then, what can I tell you?" Ianto mused. He played with a piece of nan as he thought. "I was born not far from here in the Valleys, a long time ago now, back in the '80's," he said. "Normal childhood for the most part."

"Barring the occasional run in with the law," Jack quipped and Ianto chuckled.

"Yes, though I wasn't caught for the more interesting things I was doing," he admitted. Rob grinned and he matched it with one of his own. "Went to uni in London and had quite an eclectic education there…"

"Mainly because he didn't know what he wanted to study," Jack interjected.

"Pardon me, who is telling this story?" Ianto asked, giving Jack a stern look. Jack tried to look contrite, but failed miserably. Ianto chuckled.

"Anyhow, after uni I was recruited by Torchwood One for R&D, though mostly it was archiving and paper pushing for some of the researchers," Ianto continued.

Todd sat up and leaned forward. "You worked for Torchwood One?" Ianto nodded. "That place was a legend." Jack snorted as he reached for his cup of tea. "What was it like?"

"Torchwood One was originally the main branch which was run out of the tower at Canary Wharf," Ianto said. He went onto describe some of the work they did there while everyone listened avidly. Jack snorted and made the comment about their motto and how stupid that was.

"What was that?" Todd asked.

"The head of the tower was a woman named Yvonne Hartman. Her policy was 'If it is alien, it's ours,'" Jack said, making quote marks with his fingers. "Interestingly enough, the aliens kind of felt the same way about her and Torchwood One."

"Does that mean you were at the battle?" Rob asked. He was a history buff and had done a lot of research on the background behind Torchwood. Ianto nodded. "Not many people survived that."

"No, there weren't," Ianto admitted. He saw that Jack was ready to interrupt, knowing that this was still his recent past rather than their ancient history. He put up a hand to forestall him and Jack subsided. He felt a certain detachment about the whole thing, and the back story was what led him back to Cardiff, and ultimately, Jack. And for anyone who cared to dig into the archives they'd know the story of what happened soon enough. "There were less than thirty of us who walked away from what happened there, and most of them voluntarily left the service and were wiped."

"But you didn't," Gwri said. He had seen the records, so he knew Ianto's background. Ianto nodded.

"No. I transferred here to Cardiff, though getting a job was a bit of a problem at the time," he looked at Jack who smiled wryly. "Had to chase Jack all over the city trying to convince him to take me on."

"What was the problem?" Todd asked, looking from one man to the other.

"After what happened at Canary Wharf I didn't want to have anything to do with Torchwood One," Jack admitted. "However, Ianto was rather persistent."

"I had an ulterior motive," Ianto stated, and the rest of the group looked interested as Jack nodded. "Not that Jack knew that at the time."

"No, I didn't," Jack said. "Ianto was the one who found Myfanwy and helped me catch her."

"Yes, using a hypodermic elephant needle and a bar of chocolate," Ianto said. "Very high tech methods we had back then." The group laughed at his dry comment. Julia sat back with her tea and remained quiet as she watched the byplay between the two men. "That was what got me in, though."

"So what was the ulterior motive?" Rob asked, curious. Jack looked down and sighed while Ianto shredded the last of the nan on his plate. "Or is that something we need to know?"

"It's all a part of the official history and in the records," Ianto said. "It's also something I'm not proud of today, but there were extenuating circumstances." He looked at Jack for a moment before reaching for the tea pot and pouring himself another cup.

"Ianto hid his partially converted cyber girlfriend in the basement," Jack said quietly. He heard one of the women gasp – probably Sherry, since Julia would have read the records by now. Ianto remained silent and let him continue the story. "He thought that we might be able to save her, or at least minimize the damage the Cybermen had done, but she was too far gone. She ended up killing two people and nearly killed Ianto in the process before we took her down."

"Wow," Todd said softly after Jack had finished. Ianto looked up at him and nodded. "And you stayed after that?"

"Yes," Ianto said after taking a fortifying sip of his tea. "I thought my life was pretty much over at that point. Frankly, I'm surprised Jack didn't shoot me that night."

"I was tempted," Jack admitted. He pushed his plate away with a sigh.

"I remember the gun against my head," Ianto said quietly. The room was still as the rest of the group waited. "Still, Jack manages to forgive even the most outrageous transgressions. And I didn't know anything else to do other than to work for Torchwood."

"Everyone makes mistakes," Jack said. He reached out a hand and touched Ianto's arm lightly. "We moved on from that."

"True," Ianto responded. They shared a look that the others couldn't interpret. "After that, I became a field operative as well as archivist and that's what I did until we ran into those reptilian creatures. What were they again?" He turned to look at Jack.

"Beliarian warriors," Jack said. "Only time they ever made their way to Earth but they caused enough damage when they did." He shook his head, willing away the unpleasant memories. "Anyhow, here we are."

"Yes," Ianto said. He unconsciously started to gather the debris and pack them up. "One hundred and twenty five years later. Good to see that not much has changed." He smiled at the rest of them, breaking the somber mood. "All in all, not very interesting, by Torchwood standards."

"I beg to differ," Julia said. Ianto gave her a smile. "It's part of the rather extraordinary history of this unique organization." He saluted her with his cup and she nodded.

From there, the rest of the group gave him their backgrounds, each telling of how they found their way to Torchwood after being recruited by Jack. By that time Sherry had taken the empty containers away from Ianto and put everything away. They were all quiet for a long moment after Rob finished telling his story.


	9. Chapter 9

Jack glanced at his watch. "Getting late. Time to go home, kids."

"Who's on watch tonight?" Todd asked. He was always forgetting the rotation and Sherry rolled her eyes at him.

"I am," Jack said. "You can all go home tonight. The monitor says things will be quiet, so enjoy the evening."

"Not by yourself?" Rob asked.

"I won't be," Jack said as he shared a smile with Ianto. Rob nodded and got up, grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair. One by one, they all bid their farewells, each drifting off either singly or in groups. Ianto followed Julia down the hallway while Jack talked over some tactical stuff with Rob.

"Julia?" He called and she paused as she reached the last set of stairs that led to the central Hub area. The others had gone off ahead and left them alone together.

"Yes?" She turned to him and smiled. "What can I do for you, Ianto?"

Ianto hesitated a moment as he looked at her. He debated on how to start. The tall blonde woman waited patiently. "About my… my injuries?"

"Yes? Are you in any discomfort?" She asked, going into professional mode at his question. She relaxed slightly when he shook his head. "What can I help you with?"

"Well," Ianto hunted around for a discreet way to ask what he wanted to know. "Are there any restrictions that I need to be aware of?"

"Restrictions?" She asked. She saw a slight flush on his cheeks and understood. "No, you should be all right for almost anything other than chasing down a Weevil in a back alley somewhere." He nodded, looking grateful that he didn't have to elaborate any more than he had already. "You still may feel some moments of weakness occasionally. Say if you were to go out and run around the Bay or something. But that should pass quickly enough.

"Though I will say that with any strenuous activity," Ianto looked apprehensive as she paused. "Such as wrestling a Weevil or some other creature, one should take into consideration the need for moderation and care that you don't overtax yourself so soon after surgery. However, I don't imagine you would run into anything so strenuous." It was the most delicate way she could give permission without letting him know that she knew why he was asking. Ianto nodded.

"Thank you, that's helpful," Ianto said. "I should let you go." She stared at him for a long moment.

"Ianto, I think that while you have adjusted to all this in a very admirable fashion, please know that if it gets to be too much, I am available to lend a shoulder if you need to talk," Julia said. "I'll keep it all confidential," she promised. Ianto nodded and she brushed a hand against his arm. "I'll also leave you with my private com channel, in case you need to reach me when one of us is away from the Hub. Any time you need to talk, please don't hesitate to contact me. All right?"

"Yes, thank you," Ianto replied.

"Come with me, please." He nodded and followed her out into the main room. She gestured for him to come over to her console where she handed him a com ear piece and jotted down something on a slip of paper. She then showed him the micro controls on the ear piece that he could adjust. "There, that should get you started."

"Thank you," he said again. He slipped both into a pocket.

"Then feel free to enjoy your evening," she said with a smile. With another light touch on his arm she left him. He stood and listened to the hum of machinery for a long moment. Turning to Julia's console, he tried to log in to see if his account was still active. When he got to the prompt, he typed in his code and the system logged him in. It either had him still logged as active or Jack had restored that recently. He heard footsteps and nodded to Rob as he waved on his way out the door. Sitting down, he scanned some of the most recent activity with the rift to familiarize himself with what was going on.

"Working already?" A voice asked from behind him. He didn't need to glance backwards to know that Jack was watching what he was doing.

"It passes the time," he said. A glance at the desktop showed that it was getting late; the dinner conversation had lasted for some time as they had lingered over their meal. He heard Jack move closer.

"I can think of other ways of passing the time," Jack said with a playful note in his voice. Ianto didn't respond although his lips quirked into a smile. Some things obviously never changed, he mused. "What do you think?" Jack hesitated, not sure whether he should touch the younger man or not. He knew that there were a lot of unresolved issues that eventually they would have to discuss, but he found himself aching with need for the man before him. He held his breath, hoping that at least for tonight, Ianto would forgive him.

"Hmmm," Ianto said noncommittally, though his smile had broadened. He kept his face averted so that Jack couldn't see his expression. As he flipped through the reports, he tried to watch Jack's reflection in the display. The matte surface wasn't very good at showing him detail, but he could see Jack hesitating. After he figured that he had tortured him long enough, Ianto schooled his expression to something more neutral before turning around. "What do you have in mind?"

"Umm, I'm not sure," Jack said, unsure of the direction he should head in. "We already had dinner. It's a bit late to go out for a movie, but I have some things we could watch stored on the computer if you want to. Or," he was getting unnerved by Ianto's silence, "we could just sit and talk." He looked down at the floor and Ianto had to hold back a chuckle as Jack toed a crack in the cement.

"I've been gone for over a hundred years and you want to talk?" Ianto asked. Jack glanced up quickly before looking back down again. He had never seen Jack behave like this before. Usually, he was bold and brazen. Not so… Ianto searched for a word that would fit. Lost. He wondered what had gone on in the intervening years while he was in cryo. "Is that it?"

"It's up to you," Jack said. "I wouldn't presume to suggest anything else."

Ianto blinked. What had happened to him, he wondered. Realizing that there were more unresolved issues than he thought, he got up from the stool and walked over to Jack. Jack stood with his hands in his pockets. Ianto leaned into him and inhaled that scent that meant Jack to him.

"That would be a first, you not making lewd suggestions," he said softly before leaning in further and tugging on Jack's earlobe with his lips. "I don't want to talk tonight." He could feel Jack trembling and he reached down to pull his hands out of his pockets. Grabbing the wrists, he placed Jack's hands on his hips. "Does this lead to any better suggestions?"

"Yes," Jack said, looking down at Ianto's waist. Ianto leaned back in and rubbed his cheek against Jack's. He felt Jack's hands tighten and pull him close. Instinct took over whatever reticence Jack might have been feeling as he crushed Ianto close and wrapped his arms tight around Ianto's body.

"Sofa, floor or bunker?" Ianto asked, his voice husky as he reacted to the feeling of Jack pressed against him. "You're choice."

"Bunker," Jack croaked out hoarsely. Ianto chuckled. He pulled back and grabbed Jack's face so he could give him a spine tingling kiss. When he moved away, he let his fingers trail down Jack's arm until he grabbed Jack's hand. Tugging, he pulled Jack up the short set of stairs which led to his office and the underground hideaway that he called home….


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning Ianto finally emerged from Jack's office around 10 am. Jack was still sound asleep and Ianto had idly wondered if he had gotten any sleep in the last hundred years or had just waited for Ianto to be with him before he was able to relax. He was touched to find that the clothing he had kept stored in Jack's closet was still there. He had taken one of his suits out of its bag from the cleaners and had dressed, the well fitted garment making him feel normal once again.

He stepped out of Jack's office and paused on the landing, looking down into the Hub. Most of the staff was already there. Obviously this crew was better about showing up in the morning than his team used to be. He came down the steps, the heels of his shoes announcing his presence. Todd looked up and whistled.

"Wow, very retro!" He exclaimed as he looked at Ianto who was dressed in a three piece suit, complete with fob watch. "Very nice."

"Thanks, I think," Ianto said wryly as he descended. He took a look around the room and nodded to each member of the team. He decided to wander over to the kitchen area to see what was there. After poking around the new appliances that were there, he noticed that there was a cloth draped over something. Peeking under one corner, he laughed as he saw that his coffee maker was still there. He pulled off the protective cover and folded it. Hunting around the cabinets, he found everything he needed to make coffee and set about doing so.

The sounds of the grinder whirring and the coffee machine spouting out liquid drew the staff over to watch. Rob leaned against the counter, watching as Ianto retrieved several mugs from the cabinet and placed them next to the machine.

"Anyone up for coffee?" He asked. He smiled at the eager nods and asked each of the how they took it. They only had to tell him once and he prepared each cup in turn, handing it as he finished. He pulled a final espresso for himself and leaned back against the counter to enjoy it.

"This is amazing, Ianto," Julia said as she took a sip. "No wonder Jack wouldn't let us get rid of that. In the hands of a master, it makes a superb cup."

"Thank you," Ianto said with a smile. "Anything going on this morning?" Todd shook his head. "Good, we can let Jack sleep then."

"Jack's asleep?" Rob asked. Ianto nodded. "Wow, that has to be a first. He never seems to sleep."

"Yeah, bad habit of his," Ianto said. He looked down at his mug, wondering how much they knew about their boss.

"I know it's none of our business," Rob said. "But are you two...?" He searched for a word.

"Together?" Ianto supplied and Rob nodded. "We dabble." He had used that word in the past and while there was more to the relationship than that it seemed to be as good as any other word to describe them. He could see Todd's eyes grow wide. "What?"

"Saint Jack in a relationship?" The young computer whiz asked. He started laughing and Gwri and Rob followed suit. Julia just sat on the sofa with her legs crossed and shook her head. Ianto choked on his coffee.

"What did you say?" He spluttered. He couldn't have heard that right.

"That's his nickname," Rob said. He turned to Ianto with a quizzical expression on his face. "Saintly as a monk."

"Jack?" Ianto asked again with a note of disbelief in his voice and everyone nodded. "Celibate?" Another nod. "Since when?"

"Since forever," Todd said. "You never see him on the pull, or going out with anyone. He just mopes around here most of the time, or downstairs in the archives."

"You have got to be kidding me," Ianto said. He looked down into his empty mug. "My god, this deserves another shot. I don't think my brain can handle the concept of a celibate Jack Harkness." He turned, made himself another cup, and drank it down quickly. "I must be hallucinating, because that certainly isn't the Jack that I know."

"Why are you surprised?" Gwri asked curiously. "If you are together or whatever it is you are, wouldn't you expect that?"

"Not Jack," Ianto said with a shake of his head. "Are you saying he doesn't flirt with everything in sight?" Gwri shook his head. "What has happened to him?"

"Maybe he was waiting for you to come back to him," Julia suggested. Ianto turned to her and considered her statement. He shook his head. It was still too fantastic an idea to even fathom.

"Mind boggling, that's what the concept is," Ianto muttered to himself. He made the team another round of coffee before taking a seat next to Julia. "So, what's a normal day like in Torchwood in the twenty second century?"

"Much like any other," Todd said with a grin. "We watch the rift, chase down aliens, wake Kip," he said, nudging the other man who was nodding off in a chair next to him. "Pull in bodies, artifacts and keep the city safe." The others nodded.

"I was looking at the recent records last night," Ianto said. "What was the last one there? An earthquake?"

"It certainly felt like one," Rob admitted. He rubbed the back of his neck as he thought back to earlier in the week and what happened. "Alien ship crashed and caused a rift spike. Something in the engines destabilized the rift protection field and it almost took down the Hub."

"Is that what damaged my cryo tank?" Ianto asked. Gwri nodded. "Luckily there wasn't more damage."

"Oh there was," Gwri said. "We were just able to transfer some of the more dangerous suspects to other caskets before they thawed." Ianto shuddered as he thought of some of the creatures trapped down there. Any one of them getting out could spell trouble, but more than one at the same time could spell certain disaster. "Though we didn't realize that there were live people down there."

"You didn't?" Ianto asked in surprised. Both Gwri and Julia shook their heads, followed by the others. Ianto gave Julia a troubled look. "Not even with your medical override?"

"Never thought to look, to be honest," Julia said candidly. "I think we all thought that they were deceased."

"Jack never told you what's down there?" Ianto felt himself getting mad on their behalf. "How can he expect you to work for him when he actively cripples your ability to do so?"

"Need to know, Ianto," Jack's voice said from across the room. Ianto looked up at Jack who was leaning against the railing. Ianto got up and walked over and stared at Jack. He put his hands on his hips and looked up at Jack with an annoyed look on his face.

"And you didn't think that detail important enough for them to know?" Jack shook his head, though his eyes avoided the younger man. "Jack," Ianto's voice was laced with disappointment as he pointed to the group behind him. "If you can't trust them, who can you trust?"


	11. Chapter 11

"Look, you know what's down there. I can't say it," Jack said, suddenly angry that Ianto was pushing him. Intellectually, Jack knew he was right, but emotionally he still couldn't handle it. Ianto stared at him for a long moment. "Fine, you do it. You know everything about this place that there is to know. Tell them." His comment was a direct challenge and Ianto nodded once. He turned away from Jack and headed back to the group. He could hear Jack stomping into his office, grabbing his coat and heading out the door. He turned his head and watched Jack barrel out of the Hub, almost colliding with Sherry who was bringing in a box of food as she came through the door. Jack ignored her gasp of surprise as he jumped into the lift and left.

"What is he all fired up about?" She asked, holding the box in front of her.

"He's being a brat," Ianto said dismissively. The young woman stared at him, her mouth open. He turned to look at Julia, seeing her as the default leader for the group. "I think I need to tell you all, since Jack isn't obviously going to do it. Shall we meet in the board room?" Julia nodded. She felt disquieted that so many dangerous characters were filling the caskets a couple of levels below them and none of them knew anything about them. She was all for full disclosure, and felt relief that someone else was willing to do the work. She had considered the possibility of looking at each record with her medical override, but she hadn't considered how she would tell the rest. Now the matter was taken out of her hands.

"Is that breakfast?" Gwri asked. He stuck his nose into the box and Sherry swatted him. "Ow!"

"Sherry, please take that down to the board room. We'll meet you down there. Everyone?" Ianto walked towards the entryway and indicated it with his arm. "Set the monitor to sound the alarm, and please follow me." Rob went to do that and the rest of the staff followed Ianto down to the boardroom.

Once there, they spent some time sorting the breakfast items that Sherry had brought them. Sherry insisted on making them coffee in the small kitchenette and Ianto let her do it while he set up the display to show the records. The display itself was a single sheet of glass that was paper thin and mounted on the wall. Ianto was intrigued by it, watching how it worked as he sent the computer image to it.

"All right, let's get started," he said as he logged into the console. The screen showed the standard Torchwood logo on the desktop. Ianto looked up at the group who were munching on their breakfast. He took a bite of his muffin before he continued. "Let's see what you know. You know how Torchwood was started, right?" Everyone nodded. "Good. How much do you know about Jack?"

"Well," Gwri said around a mouthful of food. "We know he can't die."

"Ah, so you know that much," Ianto said with a nod. "And he can die. He just can't stay dead." At the enquiring look from Rob he elaborated. "When I first joined the team, Jack was even less forthcoming than he is now, if one can imagine that. Has he told you anything about himself?" His heart sank as they all shook their heads. "Not even about how he got to be the way he is?" Another shake. He sighed. "Oh, Jack."

"Why don't you tell us what you know," Julia suggested. She drank her tea and very efficiently cleaned up the remains of her breakfast. She cast a glance about the table. "No need to say that all of this is classified, correct?" They all nodded.

"I'll tell you what I know, then." Ianto said as he finished his own breakfast and folded the muffin wrapper in a napkin. "Jack Harkness was born in the 51st century on a colony world far from here." He scanned the group and saw that they were watching him raptly. "As a boy his homeworld was attacked and his father was killed. His younger brother was taken by the aliens and enslaved. Jack spent most of his life after that looking for his brother." Ianto paused a moment, deciding how to go on. "You know about the Doctor, yes?" The senior members nodded while the newer operatives shook their heads. He went on to explain about Timelords and the Doctor in particular. Since he played a role in the creation of Torchwood, this should have been standard briefing material. When he finished with that he went on to explain Jack's background in the Time Agency and how meeting the Doctor during World War II changed his life when they ended up on the Gamestation. He skipped over a lot of the smaller stuff and brought them up to date on some of the more traumatic events with the Cybermen and Daleks.

He tapped on the keyboard and brought up the archivist logs. He typed in a password and requested the records for the morgue vaults. A series of questions came up, mostly nonsense questions that obviously Jack had put in sometime in the 20th century because he could easily answer all of them. Eventually he was granted access and a window popped up. It was a pictorial of the morgue wall with numbers for each of the cubes. Ianto then started opening the cubes one at a time. When he clicked on a cube, the records would pop up, along with an image and any pertinent videos, if there were any. He went through the most dangerous criminals – both alien and human, showing the video of what they had done as a way to illustrate why they were frozen and kept to the basement.

The group watched the screen, mesmerized by Ianto's lecture. He didn't go through each of the boxes, but enough to give them an idea of the varied group of dangerous criminals that were stored there. Eventually he came to a box that was going to be his last example and he looked at the group. Sighing heavily, he clicked and an image popped up. He looked at the screen but said nothing as he looked at the photo of Grey.

"Who's that?" Sherry asked. She thought the young man looked more cute than dangerous, though she knew from experience that things could be deceiving that way.

"That is Grey," Ianto said. "Jack's brother." He heard Sherry gasp and thought he heard a sharp inhalation from Julia.

"Then he found his brother," Todd stated. Ianto shook his head.

"No, Grey found us," he said. "I still don't know the whole story, but this is what I do know. Grey was trapped by those alien creatures for years, chained to a post and forced to watch others die. It drove him insane. He was captured at a young age and blamed his brother for allowing him to be caught. When he eventually escaped, the one thought he clung to was to find his brother and make him pay for what had happened. When he eventually found Jack, he found him here, in Torchwood in the 20th century. Grey laid the city to waste and set about killing everyone that Jack cared for. He also was able to travel back in time and he buried Jack underground." Ianto paused for a moment and rubbed his temples. "Jack was buried for over two thousand years before the first Torchwood team found him." He heard shocked gasps as he made that comment. "Because he already existed in that timeline he convinced them to freeze him and set the chamber to release him at the correct time. It brought him back to the present before his brother could do any more damage, though not before Grey killed two members of our team." He paused, his heart still heavy at that thought. "We couldn't save them."

"Toshiko and Owen," Todd said softly and Ianto nodded. "Jack speaks of them from time to time."

"Yes," he said. He paused for a long moment as he thought about his fallen friends. With a shake he broke out of his reverie. "Anyhow, Jack was able to subdue Grey and the only thing he could do was to cryo him. It is my thoughts that were he to get out, he could continue the destruction he started, not being happy until the Earth was gone." He closed down the window and exited the archivist log. "So now you know. And should something catastrophic happen, my recommendation would be to flood the chambers with cyanide to kill those you could. Those you can't are hopefully restrained enough not to escape."

"But if we did that, you wouldn't be sitting here today," Julia pointed out. Ianto gave her a serious look before nodding. "I can't condone killing an innocent."

"If it saved you from being killed by ten monsters and letting them loose on the world, I would be all for it," Ianto said solemnly. "Even if it meant killing me." The rest of the group was quiet as they absorbed his words. "Well, god willing you will never have to make that decision. But Julia, you may want to go through every single box and familiarize yourself with the records, so at least you'll be prepared."

Julia nodded. Ianto was right. She knew that he had only touched on a few of the more dangerous cases, since already she knew about several others just by having to transfer them the other day. She also resolved to go through the records and come up with a contingency plan, if that were at all possible.


	12. Chapter 12

The meeting broke up and they all wandered back to what they were doing. Sherry went up to manage the tourist center, Todd went back to whatever computer program he was playing with. Rob went down to the weapons area and Gwri went back to his console to continue filing overdue reports. That left Julia and Ianto alone in the board room together.

"How are you doing?" Julia asked Ianto, noting that he had a lot more color to his face this morning.

"Very well, thank you," Ianto said as he gestured for her to go through the door before him. She smiled. She could see his appeal, from his unconscious gallantry that didn't seem to exist anymore to his level headed ability to stand up to Jack when he thought the other man was in the wrong. She stepped through the threshold and waited for him so that they could walk together.

"I hope this won't cause a problem for you and Jack," she said as they matched one another step for step.

"I can't imagine it will," Ianto commented. "He knows I'm right, so he'll go climb on top of a roof somewhere and think it all through before he comes back. It will be forgotten by the time he does get back."

Julia laughed. "It seems you know him very well."

"I suppose I do," Ianto said with a grin. "Our dashing captain is rather predictable, as much as he probably doesn't think so." They laughed together and the others turned to watch as they came through the archway together.

"Did you get to talk last night?" Julia asked. She knew that Ianto would have to be brought up to speed in terms of what had happened after he had been frozen.

"Not really," Ianto said. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I wasn't really interested in conversation last night." His eyes twinkled and she smiled at him.

"I suppose not," Julia said. "Well, that will come soon enough. My offer still stands if you need someone."

"I appreciate that," Ianto said with a nod. "I may take you up on it at some point. And speaking of which, I think I'm going to do some research on my own. I'll be in the archives if anyone needs me." She nodded and he turned to go back to the archway, but went left instead of right so he could take the stairs down.

Ianto went downstairs, thoughts whirling idly as he thought of the group that worked for Torchwood now. As usual, Jack had selected people perfect for the jobs they filled, and Ianto was impressed with how comfortable he felt with them after only a day. It boded well for their working relationship. It was still a large team, so he would have to see where the best place would be for him to fit in. He decided observation would be the best route to go and see what needed to get done. He finally entered the archives and spent several hours getting familiar with it all again.

*

Jack came back into the Hub with lunch for everyone which he set on the coffee table in front of the sofa. After calling everyone who was there over, he apologized for his behavior that morning.

"I'm sorry, kids," he said as he watched them open the pizza box and they each grabbed a slice. "Sometimes I can't talk about the past, and if I know Ianto, he was thorough about telling you my past." Todd nodded and Jack grinned at him. "Where is he, by the way?"

"Down in the archives," Rob said. He had just come back from retrieving a Weevil and had come up from the cells just when Jack arrived.

"Not anymore," Sherry noted. Jack looked at her but before he could open his mouth to question her, a steaming mug of coffee appeared at his elbow.

"Right on schedule," Jack said as he turned towards Ianto and accepted the mug. "Thank you. You don't know how much I missed this."

"Surely Sherry's coffee is good enough," Ianto said lightly. None of the others had noticed his arrival, and only Sherry had because she had been looking in the direction of the kitchen area. "I certainly enjoy it."

"Ah, but she doesn't have your second sense for when I really need a cup," Jack said. He saluted Ianto with the mug before taking a sip. Ianto stifled a chuckle at the look on Jack's face. "So, did you tell them all my dirty little secrets?"

"All of them?" Ianto leaned against the counter and crossed his legs at the ankle. "Hardly. That would take at least a decade or two to disclose." Jack gave him a look that said volumes at his comment. "No, I just stuck to the more interesting ones."

"I thought all of my exploits were interesting," Jack said lightly, a teasing note in his voice.

"Yes, but not all of them are fit for consumption, if you know what I mean," Ianto said with a glint in his eye. Sherry was looking from one to the other as they bantered back and forth. "Anyone else up for a cup?" He asked, changing the subject. They all eagerly assented and he made them coffee, flavoring each to suit their earlier request to him. Sherry took her cup and made her way back upstairs so she could play her role up in the Tourist Center. Julia accepted her cup and thanked him. She could see what it was about this man that was so important to Jack's well being.

Ianto picked up a slice of pizza and took a bite. "Good to know that pizza still survives." Jack grinned at him.

"Ianto, it has only been one hundred and twenty five years. Besides, pizza has been around for centuries, and will continue to do so for some time to come," Jack commented as he took another bite of his own slice. "Though sometimes not in a fashion you would find edible. The Slavarians, for example…"

"Oh, don't start," Ianto said. "You always put me off with those stories." Jack chuckled and Ianto rolled his eyes. Their banter was interrupted by the sound of an alarm going off and Rob went over to see what it was.

"Incoming," he said shortly and Jack walked over to look over his shoulder. He swore softly.

"Damn it, I really don't want to deal with UNIT today. Can't we just tell them to go away?" Jack was almost whining. He turned as he heard a snort behind him and everyone turned to look at Ianto.

"Oh, like that's worked in the past," Ianto said with a laugh. "Still having problems, then?"

"That doesn't even begin to describe it," Todd said as he tossed his crust into the open box. "I don't know how UNIT was when you were here, but they're right bastards these days. Plus, they're not too happy that Jack lured Gwri away from them. A bit possessive, they are."

"But I thought you said that they booted you?" Ianto said with a confused look on his face. Gwri nodded. "So what have they got to complain about?"

"Because Jack picked him up less than an hour after he was shown out of the gate. So now they think it was something Kip did to get out and come work for us," Todd said.

Ianto looked from Todd to Gwri who nodded glumly. "They keep wanting to do these spot inspections and Jack keeps on stonewalling them."

Ianto threw the remains of his pizza in the trash before walking over to stand next to Jack. "So what's the problem? Let them in and charm the pants off of them like you normally do. They'll go on their merry way and that will be that." Jack shook his head glumly.

"It's not the same anymore. UNIT is run by a real hard ass. He's completely shut down any kind of communication and I can't even find out who is who anymore."

"Who is whom," Ianto corrected absently as he took in the troop milling outside the locked Tourist Center office. Sherry had locked the door when they had pulled up on the Plass. "Why not let them in? You can always retcon them if they prove to be too much trouble. At the very least give them a date with Eleanor." He heard a chuckle from Rob and they shared a moment of amusement with one another. "And we get the information you need from them." Jack stared at him for a long moment and considered the suggestion.


	13. Chapter 13

"All right," he said. "We'll play it your way. Rob, you and Ianto let them in and lead them down to the board room. The rest of you, make yourself scarce. I don't want them to know how many people we've got here or who you are. The less we have to possibly wipe, the easier it will be." The decision made, everyone moved, complying with his orders.

Ianto heard Jack say something about monitoring and the words "watch and learn from the master," was heard as he walked away towards the cog wheel entrance. Rob followed Ianto to the lift and they met Sherry who was just coming out. They got in and took it up to the top, neither speaking. Rob stood off to one side his arms crossed, as Ianto unlocked the door and opened it.

"Yes?" He asked politely, his eyes taking in the uniform designation of the group and mentally making notes. "May I help you?"

A tall thin man came up to the front and stood in front of Ianto. His uniform was precisely pressed and he stood at attention as he surveyed the strangely dressed man in front of him.

"We're looking for Captain Harkness," the Brigadier said. Ianto nodded and gestured for the small group to come in. He closed the door and locked it again.

"Captain Harkness is rather busy at the moment. May I ask the nature of your visit?" He asked, his gaze on the man in front of him.

"UNIT business," the thin man said. Ianto just raised an eyebrow but didn't respond. "Standard inspection as required by the Prime Minister of all Crown sponsored groups." Ianto slanted a glance at Rob who shrugged.

"And you have some sort of authorization, one would assume?" Ianto asked, his voice cool. The man pulled a document out of his pocket and handed it to Ianto. Ianto opened it and looked at it briefly, the soft vellum a surprising texture for a military document.

"Well, this all appears to be in order. Let me lead you downstairs to the Captain," he said. He nodded to Rob who discreetly swiped his access card on the sensor which allowed the private door to open, giving them access to the Hub proper. Ianto led them down the stairs, chatting idly with the Brigadier and acting conciliatory in the face of this military invasion into their organization.

"How is the General these days?" Ianto asked, making polite conversation as they descended.

"You know him?" The Brigadier looked at Ianto who nodded. While he didn't know the present one, they were usually cut from the same cloth and didn't change much. "Hardigan is his usual tin plated self," the man grumbled. Unknowingly, he let more information out about the present organization as they climbed down the stairs than anything Torchwood had been able to find out through regular channels.

When they arrived in the Hub proper, Ianto led the way down to the boardroom, continuing their conversation. He introduced the group to the Captain, who was seated at the long table on his own. Rob stayed with him, but Ianto closed the door, staying outside the room. He made his way back to the main Hub where the rest of the group had returned now that the troop had passed.

Ianto went to Rob's console and brought up the CCTV cameras as well as turning up the volume so the rest of the group could hear. He also activated the display that was inlaid under the glass at Jack's seat and proceeded to type information for Jack to refer to during his meeting.

Jack glanced down as the wafer thin display flickered to life. The UNIT group was still getting settled, and he said nothing as he waited for them to be seated. He saw that Ianto was giving him a series of notes for referral and had to withhold a laugh as he read the information. This visit might not be such a hardship after all, if they were able to get information out of it.

Jack was able to refer to people by name, simply by referring to the prompts Ianto sent him from wherever he was stationed in the Hub. More information filtered in and it was obvious that his operative had been able to hack into the UNIT mainframe, something he had been loath to ask Todd to do. While Todd was good, he didn't have that instinct for covering his tracks and sometime was more of a bull in a china shop when it came to data retrieval. Jack relaxed further, secure in having the upper hand.

Upstairs Ianto looked like he was conducting an orchestra. He looked from one display to the other, monitoring what was going on downstairs and pulling up pertinent information for Jack's use. Todd stood dumbstruck as he watched over Ianto's shoulder as Ianto pulled up the UNIT mainframe and hacked into it without the slightest qualm.

"Jack wouldn't let me do that," Todd said. Ianto noted an accusing note in his voice and he glanced apologetically at the younger man.

"As long as you know the right way to cover your tracks, you can get into anything from here. I'll show you how to do it later. After all, I learned from the master when it came to hacking into secure systems. And for the record, sometime it's better to just do and apologize afterwards where Jack is concerned," Ianto said. He continued to feed information to Jack and the group watching could see that Jack's apparent knowledge of UNIT outstripped the Brigadier's own knowledge of Torchwood.

Jack had to suppress his glee at the information Ianto was feeding him. He quickly turned the tables on the small force, grilling them about experimental weapons and classified information known only to UNIT. From where he was sitting, Rob could see most of the information as well and was able to give some probing questions about the armament that kept the Brigadier on his toes.

In the end, Brigadier Collins had to beg off of the meeting, citing duties elsewhere. Jack was chuckling as the group left the room in a strategic retreat, Rob leading the way out. When Rob reached the main Hub area with the group, he noted that the area looked hastily abandoned, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the flicker of a white coat up in the hot house. A glance at the computer screens showed that they were blank, no information there for anyone to read. He brought the group upstairs and let them out, nodding at their apologies for the abruptness of their departure. He locked the door and returned downstairs; amused at the way they had been able to turn things around on the UNIT team.


	14. Chapter 14

Back downstairs, Jack was chortling, the rest of the team assembled in a group around him. Rob looked over to Ianto and mimed a salute, quietly acknowledging his better when it came to information retrieval. Ianto nodded and gave him a smile.

"That was brilliant," Rob said as he clasped Ianto on the shoulder. Jack looked over at Ianto and grinned.

"I hoped you saved the good stuff so we can go over the details," Jack said. Ianto nodded towards Rob's console. Everything was saved to the local hard drive for him to refer to. Ianto showed Rob where everything was located and watched as Rob pulled up the schematics of the new UNIT super weapon.

"I really don't like the idea of this one, Jack." Rob said as he looked closely. Jack moved over to stand behind him next to Ianto. "It doesn't look like they've been able to stabilize the activating agent, and it's probably incredibly volatile in that state." Ianto's background in chemistry wasn't that good, so he left the discussion of biochemical weapons to Jack and Rob to deal with. He moved off to one side and watched the group around him. Each worked well with one another and he was content to observe them as he increased his own knowledge of how they worked together as a team.

From where she stood by the entrance to the hothouse, Julia was able to observe everyone below her. She watched thoughtfully as Ianto pulled away from the group and did his own observations. This man intrigued her. On one hand he projected a very reserved persona, almost abasing himself with his quiet approach. On the other, there was that steel core that was able to stand up to the boss, deviously hack into a computer and efficiently get that information to where it would do the most good in a most succinct fashion. There was still a third part to him that she was just beginning to see, which was the man who was Jack's lover. Able to tease and cajole the Captain by knowing exactly what buttons to push. She was sure that there were other facets to the man that she had yet to witness, but she found herself looking forward to witnessing those parts of Ianto as well.

Ianto glanced up and locked eyes with her. He smiled knowingly and tilted his head. She was doing the same thing he was, but from the added perspective of observing him as well as the others. He appreciated her and thought Jack had done very well with recruiting her for Torchwood. He casually made his way up the stairs until he was standing next to her.

"You all make a good team here," Ianto said as he leaned against the railing. She looked at him and smiled.

"Wondering how you fit in?" She asked with an arched brow. He shook his head.

"Everyone has their talents that can work well with the others. I'm sure it will be the same for me," he said lightly. He pulled back from the railing, though his hands still gripped it lightly. "I'm not concerned as to where I'll fit in."

"Yes, you seem to be very secure in your knowledge," Julia said with a smile. Confident as well as brilliant, she mused to herself. Ianto inclined his head. "So, Mr. Jones, what do your observations tell you?" She looked down at the group below her before glancing back at Ianto.

"Hmmm, on first acquaintance and only one day, the observation is decidedly spotty," Ianto admitted. He pointed to each of them in turn, starting with Rob. "Solid soldier. Puts that SAS background to good use and is the perfect foil for when Jack wants to lose his head and blow things up." She chuckled at his comment and followed his finger over to Todd. "Young and still unsure of his own skillset. Let's Jack boss him around, but will come into his own soon enough. Not the best at social skills, but what computer whiz ever is? Give him time to grow and he'll do some amazing work," Ianto commented.

He moved on to where Gwri was napping on the sofa. He had gotten bored after the UNIT team left and had been reading some medical journal on the sofa. "I understand the reason for the nickname," Ianto said with a smile. "Kip indeed." Julia matched her smile with one of her own. "Doesn't seem the type to have stuck with UNIT long." Julia nodded. In fact, he had been dishonorably discharged for his tendency to fall asleep at the drop of a hat and it was Jack who saw the potential for Torchwood. He had snapped the young man up less than an hour after he had been turned out of his field medic position. Ianto's gazed passed over to Sherry. He paused, considering his analysis of her.

"Sherry must be relatively new," Ianto said and Julia nodded in agreement. "She's a bit of an enigma, and not one of Jack's usual choices." Julia glanced at him curiously when he said this assessment, but said nothing. "She's also young and uncomfortable with her role because of that. I think she probably feels like the kid sister that no one pays attention to," Ianto mused, watching as the woman in question moved around and cleaned the discards from their earlier lunch. If someone accidentally moved to where she was headed, she tended to get flustered and back off, melting away rather than confront someone if she didn't have to.

"And me?" Julia asked, glancing sideways at Ianto. He turned so that he faced her fully and observed her for a long moment. "What do you see when you observe me, Ianto?"

"I see a brilliant doctor with a strong set of ethics who is probably the only person other than myself willing to stand up to Jack," Ianto said. He leaned one elbow on the railing as he looked at her. "Before my confrontation this morning with Jack, you were considering telling the group what you had found yourself, weren't you?" Julia looked at him with a tiny smile on her face but didn't comment. "You wouldn't have been able to keep that knowledge from them, for the same reasons I think it would be wrong." She nodded.

"You see a lot, Ianto," Julia said quietly. He quirked an eyebrow at her but said nothing. "I think I'm going to like having you here." Ianto's smile widened at her comment.

"Doctor, I am looking forward to it," Ianto said. "Now, are you the one responsible for the hothouse these days, and do we have anything that might eat Sherry's cat?" They laughed as Julia escorted Ianto into the hothouse to go over the species inside, Ianto making mental notes about what was needed to keep everything running smoothly.

*


	15. Chapter 15

It was some time later that day when things had returned back to normal that Jack found himself at loose ends. He didn't feel like doing paperwork and couldn't sit still at his desk, so he wandered around the Hub and was looking at what people were doing. Todd was doing some complex modeling that was beyond anything he knew about, so he passed on what he was doing. Rob was still delving through the documents on the UNIT information, absorbed in some schematic that took up the display in front of him.

He could see Julia was at her desk writing up notes in her usual precise fashion. He smiled as he watched her, her head bent down as she referred to some hand written note before typing into her keyboard. Next to her Kip was re-writing some of his handwritten papers, a task that Jack was sure Julia was forcing on him since she always complained about not being able to read his notes. Turning, Jack scanned the room, but didn't see Ianto. He wandered over to the coffee area out of habit, but there was no sign of him. Jack knew that the other place would be down below, so he strolled off in that direction.

He wandered the halls, checking the cells to see how their inmates we doing. It looked like they had been fed recently, so Jack was pretty sure he was on the right trail. He went down to the next level where the archives were. Pausing to listen, he couldn't hear any sounds of someone moving about and he frowned. Where was Ianto? He poked about in the dusty rooms, but there was no sign of his archivist. He finally grew concerned enough to go over to one of the wall computers and started bringing up the CCTV cameras. No sign of Ianto upstairs in the office, just Sherry talking to some hapless tourist who had wandered in. Nor was he outside on the Plass, though the rainy weather wouldn't have been inviting. A storm had moved in and he could see the wind whipping the flags on the poles out on the Plass.

He started hunting through the rooms one by one until he finally stopped when he got to the morgue. Ianto wasn't immediately evident when he brought up the camera, but a slight movement drew his attention just as he was about to go on to the next camera. Closing down the camera, he headed off in that direction.

When he got to the morgue, he entered the room and looked around, the sound of his footsteps having announced his presence to anyone inside. He looked around and finally found Ianto off to one side. He was sitting on the floor with his arms wrapped around his knees, leaning against the wall. He didn't acknowledge Jack's presence at all. Jack felt disquiet at the blank expression on Ianto's face. He wanted to just leave, but he knew they were going to have to talk sooner or later. Now might as well be the time. Jack walked over to lean against the wall, sinking down so that he sat next to Ianto.

Jack glanced over at Ianto and then away again. He didn't know how to start, or what to say. So he did the only thing he could do – waited patiently for Ianto to start.

Ianto had been sitting there for some time before Jack had found him. He was focused on the doors surrounding him, his thoughts going over what he knew. He said nothing at first as Jack sat down beside him. After a long moment he rested his head against the wall behind him and sighed.

"So many bodies," he said softly. "So many people." He could see Jack nodding out of the edge of his vision. "Many of them people you knew. I don't know how you can stand it." Ianto rubbed his eye before clasping his arm around his knees again. "Is Gwen here?"

"No," Jack said softly. "She isn't. She's interred next to Rhys in a family plot."

"What happened to her Jack? Was she able to be there for you, or did she die young, leaving you alone again?" Ianto's voice echoed in the large room.

"No, Gwen didn't die in the line of duty," Jack said. Just the mention of her name brought her face to mind and he smiled. "She beat the odds, Ianto. She toughed it out, bullied me into continuing, and lived to be a ripe old age. She had to retire from active duty when she and Rhys had their kids, but she worked as a liaison with the city and kept me going." He could see Ianto nod thoughtfully.

"Good, I'm glad that she was there for you," he said quietly. "You shouldn't be on your own doing this." He sighed. "What did you tell my family?"

"The truth," Jack said and he saw that he had surprised Ianto. "I told them the truth."

"And what did you tell them?" Ianto asked. He could picture his family in his mind, and wondered how they reacted to the news that Jack had to tell them. He heard Jack shift to get more comfortable against the stone floor.

"After you got shot, I rushed back to the Hub. The doctor we had been working with from hospital was close enough to come help. You remember Rupesh, right?" Jack watched Ianto nod. "He was the one who suggested we cryo you to stop you from dying. I wish I had been able to give you a choice, Ianto, but I just couldn't do it." He scrubbed his hand over his face, the memories as fresh as if they had just happened the day before. "Gwen came with me to see your family. I honestly didn't know what I was going to say until I was sitting in your sister's living room. She knew that something horrible had happened, and started crying before I could get a word out." Ianto closed his eyes, feeling the burn of tears forming.

"I couldn't tell her you were gone. I just couldn't. So I told her the truth, or as much as I could without saying that an alien was involved. I told her that we froze you until medical science could someday repair the damage that had occurred. Gwen was great with her; she helped Rhiannon and your mother through the shock of it all." Jack's voice broke for a moment and Ianto clutched his knees tighter.

"I took care of them for you, Ianto." Jack said. Tears were silently rolling down his cheeks. "I made sure that they didn't want for anything, and did what I thought you would have wanted. I like to think it helped, though I know it wasn't the same because it wasn't you."

Ianto reached out a hand and clasped Jack's, holding it tightly. "Thank you for doing that. I'm glad you were there to watch over them for me."

"They wanted for nothing," Jack said. He had grown attached to Ianto's family, and still watched over Rhiannon's grandchildren. They were the part of Ianto that he could still do something for over the years. It was the same with Gwen's family. He had been adopted into her family and had spent many happy years feeling a part of something special. Both families had filled a yearning need inside of him that he didn't know was there until it was filled. He closed his eyes, remembering. He had a lot to be thankful for.

He felt Ianto tug on him until he laid his head against Ianto's knee. Ianto's fingers lightly stroked his hair and he wrapped his arms around Ianto's leg and clung to him. They didn't say anything for a long time, each lost in their own thoughts, separate, but together.


	16. Chapter 16

"I have something for you," Jack said after a long while, when Ianto's hand had finally stilled so that it was resting on the back of his neck. He felt Ianto stir behind him. "From your family."

"What's that?" Ianto asked softly. His tears had dried as he accepted that everyone he knew was now gone, lost to a past that he was no longer a part of. He stroked Jack's hair and looked down at the head in his lap.

"Letters," Jack said. "Your mother and sister wrote you letters, for when you were revived. I've kept them for you, along with photographs and videos of Rhi's family for you. They're waiting for whenever you want to look at them."

Ianto felt a lump in his throat and he had to work hard to swallow. The tears started up again and he closed his eyes, letting them fall. While he hadn't been able to say goodbye to them, they found a way to say it to him. He opened his mouth, but couldn't speak. It took several attempts before he was able to make a sound.

"Thank you," he said hoarsely. "I'd like to see them." Jack sat up and looked at him solemnly. He reached out and brushed the tears from Ianto's cheek.

"They're in my office. Would you like to go now?" Ianto nodded. "All right then." Jack pushed himself back off of Ianto's lap and braced himself against the wall as he stood up. He reached a hand down to Ianto, who clasped it. Pulling Ianto upwards, he wrapped his arms around the younger man in a tight hug, trying to say with touch what couldn't be put into the words.

They walked together back up to the main room, neither saying anything. No one on the team noticed them passing, other than Julia who looked at them with concern. She kept to her desk when Jack shook his head as they passed her on the way to his office. She saw them disappear inside; Jack's hand on Ianto's back and figured that Ianto was finally dealing with it all. This was a good thing in her opinion, since he had seemed to transition to his new situation too smoothly for her tastes. One couldn't have that sort of experience without acknowledging their lost past.

Inside Jack's office Ianto looked around. He really hadn't been paying attention the evening before, and this morning he hadn't been focusing on the office when he got up. It hadn't changed much over the years, though the coral on the desk seemed to have grown and there were a few more alien knickknacks scattered about. Jack went over to his private safe and tapped in a code. They listened to the quiet hum of the machinery as the safe lift mechanism brought the box that Jack had requested up to the office level. Jack opened the door and took the box out of the safe. He brought it over to his desk and opened it, pulling a package out which he then handed to Ianto.

"You may want to go downstairs for some privacy," Jack said. His staff was always bounding into his office, and he wanted Ianto to have the time to deal with everything without interruption. Ianto nodded. "Do you want me there, or do you want to be alone?"

"Alone, I think," Ianto said and Jack nodded.

"All right, I'll be up here if you need me. There's a player on the dresser for the videos." Jack said and watched as Ianto nodded. He watched as the younger man caressed the small bundle with his fingers and was silent when Ianto climbed down the ladder. Ianto closed the hatch behind him and Jack sat down at his desk with sigh. He scanned the desk and pulled the pile of paperwork towards him. He might as well get something accomplished, and he didn't want to stray far in case Ianto needed him. Itching for a cup of coffee, he restrained himself and resolved to get through the first set of documents before he took a break.

*

Downstairs in the bunker Ianto wandered around aimlessly, the package sitting on Jack's bed. He both wanted and didn't want to read the letters. He was torn, and so walked around the tiny space, counting his footsteps and how many it took to circuit the room. He had closed the hatch not to keep Jack out, but to keep himself in.

He didn't know when it had hit him. One minute he had been wandering the archives, thinking about the team upstairs and the next he began to think of what would happen if he got close to this team and they began to die. He then thought about Tosh, Owen, his family and all he had lost. The spiral of thoughts had led him to the morgue. He had spent a lot of time just sitting there, trying not to think of all the people inside, and how many he had put there himself. That was when Jack had found him.

He sighed and put his hands on his hips as he regarded the innocuous bundle lying before him.

After a long moment of staring at it, he shook himself and sat down. He pulled the wrapped package onto his lap and let it lay there for a long moment. Jack's neat script covered the top with his name, along with the word _Personal_. He gently traced the letters and shook his head. He was stalling again. With the next inhalation he turned the package over and pulled on the twine that held it closed. He pulled back the paper and looked down. There were several sealed envelopes and what looked like a small stack of DVDs inside.

He picked up the DVDs and moved them over to the bed, leaving just the two letters behind. He picked up the first one and looked at it, tears welling up again as he recognized his mother's handwriting. This was going to be harder than he thought. He brought the letter up to his face, smelling the familiar rosewater scent that she had liked to use. He closed his eyes and pictured her sitting at home writing the letter. He could see the sun coming through the window of the kitchen which was where the family always gathered when they were together. The living room was for guests, so often everyone crowded about the table with a cup of tea and whiled away the day when they were home for a visit.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the flap, being careful not to tear the envelope. The glue had dried out over the years and so it separated easily. Taking the folded paper out of the envelope, he put the envelope to one side and opened the letter. He couldn't focus on the writing at first since his eyes blurred every time he tried to read. He took a deep breath to steady himself and started again.

_My dearest sweetheart,_

_I can't say I understand what happened to you, though your friends Jack and Gwen have been good enough to explain that the technology exists that will keep you safe until there's a time when someone can heal and bring you back. I worry about that, because I don't want you to be alone in the world, without family or friends. _

_Jack has assured me that won't be the case, and that when you wake, there will be those there that love you. I can only hope he's right. I do worry about you in some far off future without anyone to take care of you. Though I suppose you will find relatives in the future to be similar to those you have now. _

_Ianto – annwyl, please be happy with your new life. Don't look back, and look forward to a bright future before you. Find yourself someone to love, and hold them close. I will always think of you and want to imagine you somewhere in the far off future with a smile on your face._

_Ewyllysia beunydd cadw eich i mewn asgre_

_Mam_

Ianto had to wipe the tears from his cheeks before they dropped onto the paper. The last phrase in Welsh saying that she would always keep him close to her heart made him cry harder than he had before. He took a few moments to let the emotion crest over him, sorrow for what he lost warring with thankfulness that he was even able to have this much of his family with him. His quiet sobs echoed in the small room for a while. He took several shuddering breaths to compose himself, his throat aching.

Enclosed with the letter were photographs for him. Tears continued to fall as he saw that she had included several photos of his father and herself on their wedding day, pictures of himself and his sister growing up, as well as the house he grew up in and photos from happy times there. He shook with the force of the ache within him and he lay down on the bed, the pain making him sob.

It was some time before he was able to continue. When he felt like he had been wrung out and left to dry he sat back up again. He looked at the photos again, seeing the way his parents had been so obviously in love in the photos; the joy in their faces in the photos where a young Ianto and Rhiannon sat together for Christmas, Easter and other holidays over the years. He was thankful that she had included them, giving him something to have with him always.


	17. Chapter 17

He gently tucked the photos back inside the letter and envelope and rested it on Jack's pillow, out of the way where it would be safe. He looked down at the other envelope from his sister and weighed it in his hand. It was bulkier than the one his mother had left him and he debated about whether he wanted to read it. He was so emotionally drained he wasn't sure he should deal with it now or later. Part of him thought that it probably was better to get it over with now that he was numb, but another part of him wanted to just put it away where he wouldn't have his heart torn any more than it was already. He hesitated, but finally decided to get it over with now.

Carefully opening the letter, he felt a chuckle overcome him as glitter and stickers fell onto his lap, the bed and the floor. He should have known better, since she was famous for doing that sort of thing with holiday cards. Why would he think anything had changed? Smiling, he tipped the card over the envelope to catch what was left before it spilled all over the place.

The front of the card had one of her hand illustrations that she liked to do. It showed a young man standing in a field with an umbrella over his head. Showering down were hearts and flowers, and Ianto smiled as he looked at the cute little smiles she had embedded into the card. He opened the card and saw she had written _For a rainy day sometime in the future, remember all those things you hold dear._ He felt the lump grow in his throat again. It surprised him, since he didn't think he had anything left inside. He gently brushed a few more stars, moons and hearts out of the card into the envelope that had gotten stuck inside. His eyes then moved onto the papers tucked inside. Sighing, he opened the folded pages and began to read.

_September 12, 2010_

_Dear Ianto,_

_I'm writing this letter and hoping that when you finally wake up, you will be well enough to read this. I always knew that your job was a lot more difficult than you let on (seriously, what sort of civil servant works nights and weekends? You really needed to come up with something better than that, my dear, but if it made you feel better about fooling us, who am I to complain?) _

_Gwen thought it might help if Mam and I were to write to you, though I'm not sure how anyone will get these letters to you once we're all gone. Gwen said not to worry about it, and that Jack would take care of it for us. I like Gwen, she's a bit of a firecracker, isn't she? She has a good heart, and has been a godsend for Mam. _

_I wish I could see you, but they say you are in some secret government storage area and that they can't get me in. I'm not sure what I would do, since it's not like we could have a conversation at all, but still. Though we never really got to see much of each other because of your job, I find I have this silly urge to talk to you now. I guess that's why I'm babbling here in this letter. At least you can't hang up on me! _

_Rhi_

_April 17, 2013_

_Hello again, love,_

_Yes, I'm still writing this silly letter! It's a good thing Jack comes by to visit, since one of these days I'll have to just give it to him so he can tuck it away. I guess I just haven't finished nattering to you, have I?_

_The kids are growing like weeds, and I've enclosed some pictures now before I forget. Life is good here, though we all miss you terribly. I wonder what year it will be when you finally get to read this? Will they still have paper, or will you think this a horribly old-fashioned way of communicating compared to how life is in the future? I have to admit I'm very curious and a little jealous that you will get to see such fantastic stuff. Well, keep me in mind and tell me about them, and maybe somehow I'll be able to hear it wherever I am. Hmmm, maybe you can have a séance and tell me all about it! _

_Oh no! Something just sounded like it crashed. It has to be the dog. I have to go, but I'll be back – I promise!_

_Rhi_

_August 19, 2022_

_Happy Birthday, darling!_

_I'm thinking of you today, so I thought I would pull this letter out and write to you again. I can't believe 9 years has passed since I last picked it up and wrote! Sorry about that, but things get busy and slip away from me. I'm sure you know how that goes._

_Jack is supposed to come by and take Mam out to celebrate for you, so perhaps this time I'll actually give him this letter so he can tuck it away for me. I have to wonder if he's read the Picture of Dorian Gray- he has to have a painting tucked away somewhere to continue to look so good!_

_He's been so good to us, Ianto. A real help with the kids and Mam, of course. I think she's adopted him, though she teases him mercilessly about never looking any older. He said it was just good breeding and genes. I still think there's a painting hidden away somewhere! Perhaps it's that coat that he said he got from his dad – though it does look good on him. Very dashing! _

_The kids are now grown and I feel like I'm the mother bird with an empty nest – now how did that happen? Both off at uni – I'm not sure how I survived it! _

_Honey, when I look back over the last twelve years that you've been gone, there are times when I wish I could just ring you and tell you what's going on. In many ways it's like you're still here, so I talk to you anyway. It's okay, the neighbors already know how loony I am, so not to worry about that! _

_Rhi_

_December 22, 2030_

_Merry Christmas, Ianto!_

_I have to be the world's worst letter writer! I keep on meaning to finish this off and finally seal it and send it on its way, but time and again I find myself putting it away and then pulling it out years later to write some more. This time I think I need to actually finish this before it turns into more of a novel than it already is!_

_Sweetheart, I thought of you today when Alys told me that she wanted to name her firstborn after you. I have to admit I broke down in tears, as did Mam. I've tucked in a photo of her – poor girl is as big as a house. I'm sure there has to be a whole litter in there, but the doctors say there's only one. Good lord, my little girl is huge! So you will have a namesake for us to take care of. I'm happy about that. I think she really wanted to name the baby Jack, but that would have been a bit off, wouldn't it? But she does adore her Uncle Jack._

_Speaking of which, he still looks the same, though I wonder if he's added in some powder in his hair or something to make himself look older. The face is still the same. He told me he must have some Native American blood or something, since they don't age like other people, either. Personally, I think it's a stretch, but I like to let him think I believe his little stories._

_Well, it looks like I'm finally running out of paper. Time for me to end this rambling letter. I do hope it finds you well, and that wherever you find yourself, you promise me that you'll be happy. I've included some videos from over the years so hopefully you won't feel like you've missed out on too much. And perhaps you can find my great great grandchildren, or whatever generation they are and tell them about their dear old granny when she was a young girl._

_Enough of me. Enjoy these little bits from the past, but don't get lost in them. I know how you can get. Live for us and be happy. I know that somewhere, we'll always watch over you. _

_I love you my little brother, and I'm kissing this paper so that as you touch it, you can feel my kiss to you._

_Be well, and smile!_

_Rhi_

Ianto finished reading the long, rambling letter from his sister and found himself smiling. Trust Rhi to do that for him. He pressed the paper against his cheek, imagining her kiss against his skin. He looked at the jumble of photos she had included. There were school photos, birthday parties, holidays and candids of every sort. In every one of them his family smiled at him, and he felt happy that she had included the pictures for him. The last one in the pile was of his niece all grown up and heavily pregnant. He marveled that she was able to stand, looking like that. He peered closely, seeing that mix of Johnny and Rhi – Alys had Johnny's nose, but Rhi's hair and eyes, and she was obviously happy as she stood for the photo next to a young man that Ianto supposed was her husband. He smiled at seeing the little girl he remembered all grown up.

Putting the photos away, he looked at the DVDs. He didn't think he was emotionally ready to watch live video of his family just now. So he tucked it all back into the wrapper and tied it up again. He stretched out on the bed and thought for a long time about his family and how they had made their way through the years, as well as their messages of hope and love for him. After a long time he almost could hear his sister urging him to get out of bed and to get on with his life. He nodded to himself. So he got up and went over to the closet, where he put the package on the shelf inside for a later time. He then went into the small bathroom that Jack used and splashed some water on his face. Looking in the mirror, it didn't help much, but he felt better because of it.

When he was done he climbed the ladder and lifted the hatch, ready to join the land of the living once again.

*


	18. Chapter 18

By the time he had climbed out of the bunker, Jack had two glasses of scotch for each of them, having poured a healthy amount in the anticipation that they would need it. Jack had already had one on his own as he waited for Ianto. Though alcohol didn't affect him as much, a large glass of the powerful liquor had left him with a pleasant buzz. Jack thought Ianto looked tired, and it was obvious that he had been crying. Jack felt bad about that, and he hoped that Ianto would find it in his heart to forgive him for what he had done.

Jack slid the glass of his private Talisker stock over the desk so that it was closest to Ianto. Ianto gave him a smile before taking the glass and a seat on the corner of the desk. That made Jack perk up a bit since Ianto wasn't turning away from him. Ianto looked down and swirled the liquid around in the glass.

Jack didn't want to say anything, so waited for Ianto to speak first. He fought the urge to reach out and touch the younger man, but waited for Ianto to make the first move.

"A toast," Ianto said as he held the glass up to Jack. "To absent loved ones and friends." He clicked his glass against Jack's before taking a sip. He had to stifle a cough at the harsh taste of the liquor. Jack had apparently upgraded from his usual Macallan. He blinked a couple of times and saw Jack smile.

"Packs a wallop, doesn't it? Talisker from the Isle of Skye." Jack said with a grin. Ianto nodded. "How are you doing, Ianto?"

"Okay," Ianto said. He took another cautious sip of the liquor and decided he liked the smoky flavor. "I want to thank you, Jack." Jack tilted his chin up and looked at Ianto, waiting for him to continue. "Thank you for taking care of my family. Reading those letters…" he paused, trying to find the words. "They spoke of you, and how much you helped them."

"They were your family, how could I not be there for them?" Jack asked softly. "Besides, they were so welcoming, I felt like I had a family of my own again. Thank you for that."

"I didn't do anything to accomplish that," Ianto said with a smile. He reached out and touched Jack's hand which was resting on the arm of his chair. "You charmed them all on your own." Jack grinned at him. "Did my sister ever call you Dorian?"

Jack looked confused. "Huh?" Ianto chuckled.

"She said you reminded her of Dorian Gray and that you must have a painting tucked away somewhere." Ianto grinned as Jack threw back his head and laughed.

Down in the main Hub, Julia looked up as she heard laughter coming from Jack's office. Good, they had both begun to heal together. She decided that since everything was going well she could finally leave for the evening. She logged off of her computer and packed up. She debated whether to interrupt and let Jack know that she was leaving but decided it would be better to leave them alone.

"Who's on watch this evening?" Julia asked Rob. She was putting some files in her bag for some night time reading and looked up to see him checking the schedule.

"Kip and I," Rob said. "Don't worry, I'll kick him awake if the alarm goes off."

"See that you do, Rob. I swear, I'm going to do a battery of tests on that boy and find out if he's hiding the fact that he's narcoleptic or something." Julia shook her head. "Either that, or maybe I can diagnose laziness as a medical condition." She paused for a moment. "No, I don't think so. Better not give him any excuses."

Rob laughed and then nodded his head in the direction of Jack's office. "Looks like things are better on that front." Julia nodded. "We'll leave them alone, don't worry about that."

"I wouldn't, not with you," Julia said with a smile. "Well, I'm off. Hopefully my home isn't in too much disarray since it's been days since I last saw it. Have a good evening."

"Good night," Rob said. He nodded before going back to the report he was writing on the UNIT technology for Jack's referral. The Hub quieted down as the rest of the staff left to go home. He opened the roof access and let Myfanwy out for a night of hunting. She leapt from her nest as soon as she heard the gears grinding and was out the opening before it had barely opened.

It was peaceful to have the rift quiet for a change. Rob wondered if it was perhaps apologizing for the frenzy it had kicked up earlier in the week, and smiled at his fancifulness. He sat back in his chair and pulled up an old movie to watch. They had done more than enough work for one day, so Jack wouldn't mind them kicking back this evening. With a glance towards his teammate who was dead to the world over on the sofa he grinned and turned down the Hub lights.

Ianto looked up as he saw the lights come down. "Mmm, mood lighting." He and Jack were on yet another glass of scotch. Ianto had lost count since Jack had just kept on refilling their glasses from the seemingly bottomless decanter. Jack grinned lazily at him.

"Yes, it is. The kids must have gone home," He said. He leaned over to tap on his screen to pull up the cameras and saw that Rob was sitting at his console with his feet up on the desk watching some old movie while Gwri was asleep on the sofa. "My favorite kind of night."

"Indeed," Ianto said with a smile. "Jack." Ianto leaned precariously towards Jack and almost overbalanced. "Whoops!" He carefully put his glass down on the table, almost missing it altogether. "What was this stuff again?"

"Talisker," Jack said. He frowned as he found himself slurring the word. "Maybe we should just call it a night."

"But it's early," Ianto protested. He had pulled off his jacket and tie some time ago. He tried to unbutton his waistcoat, but wasn't having much luck. "Jack, I was going to say something, but I can't remember what." He frowned as he tried to remember.

"Don't try so hard, it looks like it hurts," Jack said. Ianto looked startled at his comment and Jack started to giggle. Ianto started to laugh as well. A moment later he slipped off the desk, pushing Jack in his rolling chair which slid backwards across the floor and down the steps with a clatter.


	19. Chapter 19

Rob looked up at Jack's office, startled by the noise. He wondered if everything was all right but hesitated about going over. He got up and started to go over to Jack's office, wondering if he needed to intervene, but not wanting to interrupt something.

A moment later he saw Jack careening down the stairs in his chair, laughing his head off. He slammed against a railing and got stuck. Rob ran over and a moment later Ianto stood swaying at the top of the stairs.

"Jack, are you okay?" He asked. Rob looked up and then down at Jack who was laughing hysterically. He had a glass in his hand that he had spilled all over himself as he went down the stairs, and from the smell of it, it looked like they had been drinking scotch.

"I think we're pissed," Ianto said as he carefully navigated the stairs in an attempt to go help Jack. Rob watched him with a grin as he abruptly sat on the stair nearest Jack. "Luckily, Jack can't get hurt."

"That's not true," Jack said. Rob had to duck as he waved his glass about. "I can get hurt. And believe me, dying hurts."

"Then don't die," Ianto told him solemnly. "In fact, I'm going to tell you not to do it anymore."

"Okay," Jack said. He looked around and saw Rob. "Hey Rob, fancy meeting you here." He gave Rob a silly grin. Chuckling, Rob grabbed Jack's chair and pulled him down to the floor so he wouldn't hurt himself, ignoring Jack's "wee" as he did so.

"I think we've had enough tonight, gentlemen," Rob said. He crossed his arms and looked from one to the other. Ianto nodded in agreement.

"It's all Jack's fault," he said, swaying slightly. He blinked and it looked to Rob that he probably thought the room was moving around him. Rob didn't know what kind of scotch that they had been drinking, but obviously neither of them was feeling any pain.

"My fault! How izzit my fault?" Jack said, spinning around in his chair. Rob stopped him after two turns because he didn't want to have to clean up the mess if Jack spewed his guts all over the Hub.

"Because," Ianto leaned forward and looked about as if to check and see if anyone was listening before whispering in a loud voice. "Jack was trying to get me pissed so he could have his way with me." Jack blinked.

"I do that anyhow. Why would I waste good scotch on you for that?" Jack looked up at Rob as if asking his opinion. Rob only chuckled.

"Let me help you gentlemen to bed," he said before he paused, not knowing where either one of them had slept the night before. He looked down at Jack and realized that it had to be somewhere in Jack's office, since they had both emerged from there that morning. "Who's first?"

"Me, please!" Ianto said. "I'm terribly sorry about this, but I'm not feeling very coo… coo…" he frowned as he sounded out the word. "Coordinated this evening."

"Ianto, I never would have guessed," Rob said with amusement. Rob leaned down and put his arms under Ianto's and pulled him up. "All right, let's get you sorted then." He got Ianto turned around and together they carefully navigated the stairs, both ignoring Jack spinning around in his chair and chortling to himself. When they got back into Jack's office Rob looked around, trying to figure out where to go. Ianto looked at him for a long moment.

"Hmmmm, anyone ever tell you you're cute?" Ianto asked him. Rob laughed.

"Not recently, and no, I'm not interested, Ianto. Sorry, mate," he said as he pulled Ianto further into the room. He looked around and Ianto tried to mirror his movements. "Where's the bed?"

"Down Jack's hole," Ianto said and then laughed. Rob knew that the whole thing had deteriorated, but didn't know it was going to go that far downhill. But then Ianto pointed over to the corner and Rob noticed the hatch that was lifted up. He walked over with Ianto following him. Peering down, he saw there was a bed, though it looked awfully small for more than one person.

"Down there?" He asked. Ianto leaned over and Rob caught him by his belt loops before he fell.

"Yup, that's Jack's hole," he said. He laughed.

"All right, Ianto, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to go down first, and I want you to follow me. I'll make sure you don't fall, okay mate?" Rob said. Ianto looked at him seriously before nodding. "There's no way I'm going to let you hurt yourself after Julia just put you back together again."

"No, I definitely wouldn't want that," Ianto said solemnly. "I think she'd be upset with me, and she's too nice to upset, don't you think?"

"Yes, I do," Rob said patiently. He sent a prayer asking for patience when dealing with drunken Welshmen. "Just be careful." He carefully climbed down the ladder, entering the bunker. He gave it a cursory look and realized that this was Jack's permanent home. He shook his head and looked up at Ianto. "Okay, come down, but be very careful." Ianto nodded.

Ianto actually did pretty well with navigating the ladder on his own, but Rob was glad he had gone down first anyhow. Rob led him over to the bed and sat him down. Ianto tried to undo his waistcoat, but was having trouble with the buttons. Rob helped him and pulled it and his shirt off before making the man lie back down on the bed.

"Thanks Rob," he said. Now that he was horizontal he was feeling better and not so giddy. "I'm sorry to put you through this."

"It's okay, Ianto," Rob assured him. "It happens." He heard Ianto mutter something about Jack and his scotch and he chuckled as he climbed back up the ladder. He wondered if the others knew that this was where Jack spent his time. Shaking his head, and went out to get his boss, who was sprawled in his chair singing a sea shanty. He had to stop and laugh as Jack shouted out the words to _Blow the Man Down._ A glance across the room showed that Kip didn't even stir, for which Rob was grateful. He thought that both men would prefer this not get around the staff.

"Come on, Jack. Time for bed." Rob said. He looped Jack's arm over his shoulder and hauled him out of the chair.

"I can't, Rob," Jack said with a shake of his head. "I don't sleep around anymore." Rob started laughing, but continued to haul Jack up the short flight of stairs. "I'm a one man's man if you know what I mean." They had reached the office and Rob found that Jack was even less coordinated than Ianto had been. He leaned Jack against his desk and considered how he was going to get him downstairs and into bed. "I mean I respect you as a man, but I just can't."

"I know that, Jack. I'm taking you to see Ianto." Rob explained and Jack lit up like a Christmas tree at the name.

"Are you?" Rob nodded. "Bless you, Robert. Ianto is just what I need right now."

"Well, in order to get you down to your bed we need to get you down the ladder. Do you think you can do that, Jack?" Rob asked him and Jack looked over to the hatchway before looking back at Rob and nodding. He repeated the same procedure that he did for Ianto, but Jack practically fell on top of him as he came down the stairs. Rob staggered and pulled Jack over to the bed.

"Oof" Ianto said as Jack landed on him.

"Sorry," Jack apologized. He started pulling his braces down and Rob helped him out of his trousers and shirt. Wearing only his boxers and his vest, he lay down. Ianto was lying on his side up against the wall where he had moved out of the way after Jack sat on his leg.

"Ouch, Ianto," Jack complained. "What's with that sharp pointy thing there?" He jabbed a finger at Ianto's belt, which was half undone. The tongue of the buckle had caught Jack as he had moved over.

"Sorry, but I couldn't get it off, Jack," Ianto apologized. Rob reached over and pulled the belt off, then undid the buttons on Ianto's trousers before pulling them off by grabbed the legs and tugging them down. Ianto giggled as he did that, but Rob was used to getting drunken workmates to bed in the past. This time wasn't any different, other than he was putting both of them into the same bed together. He reached down and grabbed the blanket that had been tossed on the floor and spread it over the two men.

"Goodnight, gentlemen," he said. He couldn't see where the light switch was but he saw an old fashioned lamp off to one side and turned the switch off of that. The room now was only lit from the light from Jack's office and Rob made his way up the ladder. He could hear the two murmuring to one another as he left. He looked around Jack's office and saw the decanter and a glass on the desk. He picked up the glass and got a whiff of the strong smell. No wonder they had both gotten soused, he thought to himself. This thing had to be off the scale in terms of proof. He capped the decanter and moved it off to the liquor cabinet. He had never seen Jack drink before, so he was sure this had to be a once in a while thing.

Turning down the lights in the office, he left the hatch open in case one of them got up and didn't realize it was closed. He made his way back down to his desk, stopping to move Jack's chair back in his office and to clean up the spilled scotch. It reeked and he found he had to get out a mop and swab down the area to kill the smell. Thinking he was going to get drunk off the fumes himself, he laughed. What a story and he couldn't tell anyone about it.

With a last shake of his head he sat back down in his chair and started up his movie again. Though to be honest, it wasn't half as entertaining as the last half hour had been…

A short while later Jack's metabolism had taken care of the alcohol and he woke up with a start. Ianto was snoring softly beside him and Jack sniffed, wondering what it was he smelled. His shirt felt wet and he pulled the vest up and nearly swooned at the strong smell of scotch that clung to it. He untangled himself from Ianto and sat up on the narrow bed. Pulling the vest off, he tossed it somewhere in the vicinity of the bathroom before lying back down again. He vaguely remembered sitting with Ianto, but had no memory of getting to bed. He pillowed his head with his arms and Ianto rolled over, putting his head on Jack's shoulder. Jack chuckled. Obviously they had gotten pretty drunk if he couldn't remember getting to bed. He closed his eyes, hoping he could get back to sleep. Having a warm Welshman cuddled up against him was certainly an enticement. He smiled and drifted back to sleep.

*


	20. Chapter 20

The next morning Ianto woke with a hangover worse than the time he and Owen had gone out bar hopping while Jack had been gone. That time he had woken up hanging off of Owen's sofa and had walked around with a stiff neck for a week. Owen had not been in much better shape, which had been the only saving grace in that adventure.

He opened his eyes blearily and thought about whether getting up would be a good or a bad idea. Jack was asleep next to him, so he knew if he got up he would have to be careful not to wake him.

Ianto decided that if he didn't get up, he'd soon be in pain as his bladder was desperately signaling the need for the bathroom. Closing his eyes, he sat up and waited for his head to stop pounding. He had a vague recollection of drinking scotch with Jack, but couldn't remember too much, other than them making up toasts to drink to. Moving carefully, he got out of the bed and padded off in the direction of the bathroom. He wrinkled his nose as he stepped on a damp cloth. Stopping to pick it up, he could smell the lingering odor of scotch on it.

"Whew," he said softly. He tossed it in the sink before closing the bathroom door. He decided that turning on the light would be a bad thing, so relieved himself in the dark room after making sure that he was standing in the right place. He wondered if Jack still kept the paracetamol in the cabinet. Not that Jack needed it, but he liked to keep a well stocked cabinet just in case. Ianto knew he'd have to turn on the light for that, so he screwed his eyes shut before flipping the switch. Even then it felt like daggers were digging into his brain as he cautiously cracked an eye open enough to look in the cabinet. Finding what he was looking for, he spilled several pills into his palm before using the water from the sink to wash them down. Turning off the light, he sighed in relief. Better to stay in the dark and let the medicine do the trick. He took a shower and let the warm spray revive him.

Beginning to feel human again, he felt able to handle turning on the light. He took the time to shave and washed out Jack's vest in the sink before hanging it up to dry. Idly he wondered how Jack had managed to spill what seemed to be a full glass of liquor on himself and he frowned, frustrated with himself that he couldn't remember anything about the evening. Sighing softly, he left the bathroom long enough to rummage about in Jack's wardrobe for another suit before going back inside to change. He was going to have to ask Jack what he had done with all of his stuff. Presumably it was in storage somewhere. Ianto wasn't looking forward to finding out what shape it was in, either. He didn't think of Jack as being the world's best packer, and no doubt most of his stuff would have to be checked closely for damage before he could use it again.

Looking towards the bed he saw that Jack was still out of it. He made his way up the ladder and gently closed the hatch to give Jack some more time to sleep. Not that Jack would wake up with a hangover, Ianto thought resentfully. Life just wasn't fair sometimes. Ianto glanced about the office and frowned when he saw his suit jacket and tie from the day before draped carelessly over the back of a chair. That was so unlike him, and he folded the garment carefully before putting it to one side. He'd have to find the rest of the suit later once Jack was awake and see if cleaners still existed in the 22nd century.

A glance at the clock showed him it was early, and the lights were still on the night setting. He made his way out of the office and saw Rob asleep at his desk where obviously he had been sitting rift watch. There was no sign of anyone else, and Ianto shrugged. Any quiet night in Torchwood was one to enjoy. He made his way over to the kitchenette and started making coffee.

The sounds of the coffee machine woke Rob out of a light doze. He hadn't meant to nod off, but had been unable to stay awake. He yawned and stretched before looking at his watch. Half past six, way too early for Sherry to be in, he thought to himself. He got up and wandered over to kitchen area, noting that there was no sign of Kip. Maybe he had left since there was nothing going on, Rob mused. Turning the corner he saw that Ianto was awake, though he was looking a little rough around the edges. Rob grinned. He wondered how much Ianto remembered.

"Good morning," Ianto said as Rob made his appearance. "Coffee?"

"Please," Rob said. He leaned against the counter and watched Ianto move about. "Sleep well?"

"Apparently," Ianto said. "I'm afraid that Jack and I went on a bit of a bender last night. Hopefully we weren't too rowdy, because honestly I can't remember much at all. But I certainly have the hangover which proves I had too much scotch." Rob crossed his arms and chuckled as he noted Ianto's rueful expression. Ianto glanced at him and from the expression on Rob's face he had a feeling that they had been more than a little rowdy. He filled up a mug with black coffee that way Rob liked it and handed it over to him. "Judging from your expression, we were probably more rowdy than I thought."

"Uh huh," Rob said, his smile widening into a full grin. Ianto groaned at that point.

"How bad were we?" Ianto asked. He took a fortifying sip of coffee as he waited for the answer.

"I haven't deleted the CCTV footage yet in case you wanted to see it for yourself," Rob said. Ianto passed a hand over his eyes and swore softly in Welsh. "Nothing too incriminating, but you may want to keep some of it for blackmail purposes."

"Oh god, what did we do?" Ianto asked looking stricken. Rob chuckled and headed over to his console, motioning for Ianto to follow him. He had edited the different views together for his own amusement, and opened up the video player to show Ianto. Ianto pulled over a spare stool and sat down. Rob had to stifle another laugh as he watched Ianto's expression. He had started with the camera in Jack's office, followed by the ones positioned to record the area outside near the stairs. Originally he had looked at the footage because he had been trying to figure out how Jack had managed to come flying out of the office on his chair. He had spent a few minutes running the footage back and forth, amusing himself in the early hours of the morning. He heard Ianto swear softly again.

"Seen enough?" Rob asked. He had left out the part in Jack's office where Ianto had come onto him. Ianto buried his face in his hands and nodded. "Delete it?"

"Can we keep the part with Jack singing?" Ianto asked him with a smile. Rob chuckled again and nodded. "But god yes, delete anything that may implicate me. I can't have him getting a hold of any of that or I may never live it down." Rob edited the video down to the portion Ianto indicated and saved it off to a memory stick for Ianto.

"Just one other thing," Rob said as he handed the stick to Ianto. "You may want to get into the habit of deleting footage yourself." Ianto gave him an odd look and he turned back to his computer. He pulled up the footage from the night before where Ianto and Jack had been locked in one another's embrace before Ianto had pulled Jack off to bed. At least he now understood what the bunker was. He suppressed a grin at the thought before glancing at the man sitting next to him. Ianto just shook his head and sighed. "Nothing outrageous, but probably more than you want the rest of the staff to see." Ianto nodded. Rob deleted it, along with the other footage he had, scrubbing the camera hard drives as the same time. "Gone."

"Thank you, Rob. I do appreciate it," Ianto said. "Definitely need to be more discreet in the future." He looked down at his now cold coffee. "I so need a refill." Rob chuckled and patted him on the back. Ianto got up and made himself a new cup and drank it down. His hangover was finally gone, eradicated by the combination of coffee, painkillers and the shock of seeing that CCTV footage.


	21. Chapter 21

He brought the pot over to Rob and refilled his cup. "Rob, what do I need to do about getting an access key?"

Rob reached into a drawer and pulled out the key he had already made. "Here you go. This covers your normal clearance and access to the premises for anything you need. If for some reason you find someplace you can't get into that you normally should be able to get into, please let me know." Ianto nodded and examined the clear keycard closely.

"What passes for currency these days?" Ianto asked. Rob opened another drawer and pulled out an envelope which he handed to Ianto. Ianto thanked him and looked through it. Still good old British currency, though the face was different – some things obviously never changed. He grinned. "I'm going off for a bit of a walk about to pick up some breakfast. Any suggestions?"

"Go off to the shops over to your left as you head out. A good selection there," Rob said to him with a nod. Ianto thanked him and pocketed both the envelope and the access card. He checked the CCTV and saw that the weather was clear, so he headed out for an early morning stroll.

As he left the Tourist Centre he looked around curiously. This was his first time out wandering, other than the night he had bolted, and he found his natural curiosity taking over as he walked along the pier. The changes in the area were evident, though it still looked like there was the same type of shops and restaurants. Off in the distance he saw that parkland had replaced the old oil refineries and shipyards. He made a mental note to check out the area when he had a chance at some point.

Taking a left, he followed Rob's instructions and ended up in the shopping area. Early morning commuters were making their way through the concourse, intent on getting to work. A few people looked at him curiously, but no one said anything to him. He supposed he probably looked a bit out of place in his suit, but he decided he didn't really care. He did glance at his reflection in the window and thought that it didn't look too different from some of the clothes in the shops that he passed, so he put it out of his mind.

Following his nose, he found a small shop that was doing a brisk business. He ordered enough food for the staff and carried the bags back to the Hub. Using his access card, he let himself into the quiet front office and downstairs. Several of the other staff had made their way in already. Todd and Julia smiled at Ianto as he came through the cog wheel door with his purchases.

"Good morning," Julia said, smiling at Ianto. He nodded and brought his bags over to the kitchen area. She wandered over and watched him. "How are you doing this morning?"

"Very well, thank you," Ianto said. The morning walk had done him good and he felt a lot better than he had when he first woke up. "Did you have a nice night?"

"Yes, I did," Julia said. She took the offered coffee and looked at the plate of breakfast rolls Ianto put out. "Oh, you have been busy, haven't you?" Ianto nodded and smiled. "You know you don't have to do this, that Sherry can handle this, don't you?"

"Yes, probably, but I was hungry so I figured, why not?" Ianto replied. He broke into a roll and took a bite. "I'm an early riser, so I'm bound to be hungry before she gets in." He watched her as she ate. Julia was one of Jack's more interesting finds. She really didn't fit the previous Torchwood profile that Jack tended to use. "So, how did you end up at Torchwood? And I don't mean the official story that we spoke about at dinner. There's always a back story. That is, if you're willing to share it," Ianto said. She nodded over to the sofa and they both sat.

"How does anyone end up here?" She asked lightly. "Jack entices us with the promise of alien technology, of course." Ianto took a sip of coffee and nodded. "My background is in neural and nano-molecular technology. Jack lured me away from the London Centre for Nanotechnology with the promise of revolutionizing the industry. Of course he failed to mention that I couldn't tell anyone about it." She smiled wryly. "Still, we've come to an accommodation where I have been able to feed promising leads to my colleagues and we've been able to make some wonderful advances."

"So you like it here?" Ianto asked her. She nodded.

"Oh yes. For all that I can't speak about it, I find what we do here fascinating. Especially alien biology. Some of the records here are extraordinary. When I have the time, I like to go through the archives and puzzle some of the stuff that earlier researchers weren't able to solve. It keeps me occupied during the slow times here," Julia said. Ianto laughed at the thought of them having slow times.

The alarm sounded and Gwri came through the door. He had gone home for a shower and a change of clothes before returning, and he came over to where the food was. "Ah, breakfast!" He grabbed a roll and started to eat, waving at Ianto and Julia where they sat on the sofa. He poured himself a cup of coffee and wandered off to his station. He was followed by Sherry who breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that someone else had already provided breakfast. She leaned down and gave Ianto a kiss on the cheek in thanks and he smiled up at her.

"Good morning," he said. She laughed and made herself a cup of coffee.

"Good morning! It's a glorious day out, isn't it?" He nodded and she went back up to the office to open it for the day.

"What's Sherry's story?" He asked Julia.

"I'm not really sure," Julia said. "Jack just brought her in one day and said something about her being family." Ianto raised an eyebrow. "You'll have to check with Jack about what that means."

Ianto stared after her curiously. He knew that she probably was no relation to Jack unless he had managed to figure out his family tree. Ianto didn't suppose that Jack had had a child in the intervening years, but then again with Jack, anything was possible. He resolved to ask him about it later.


	22. Chapter 22

He decided to poke about the archives and catch up on what had been going on. A glance up to Jack's office showed that he still seemed to be out of it, so he took himself off to the basement to go through the records. He started with the area for employee records, curious as to what might be in the files. He was disappointed that there seemed to be spotty record keeping, though he wasn't surprised that was the case.

From the files he went backwards in the records to see what had been going on for the past 125 years. Most of it looked like the usual flotsam and jetsam stuff that normally came through the rift. There was the occasional rough patch of an attempted alien invasion, but it looked like they had been rebuffed in an efficient matter. Ianto frowned as he found things out of place. As he went he reorganized the files, getting back into the habit of creating a precise record and having it in the correct order. Once he had been through those, he decided to see what the state of the artifacts was. He didn't have much hope, considering past experience.

When he emerged several hours later, it was to see that several of the staff were out on an alert. He checked over Todd's shoulder to see what was going on and it seemed it was just a local disturbance of some garbage from the rift which had been dumped in a local food mart. He shrugged and looked towards Jack's office. He could see Jack moving around, so he figured it was time to drop him off a coffee. Making a cup of an extra strong blend, he took the mug up the stairs.

He paused on the threshold and watched Jack. The other man was seated at his desk, toying with some alien box. He had a set of tools scattered on the desk that he had been using to pry it open. Apparently he wasn't having much luck, but that hadn't stopped him from trying. Ianto smiled at the look of utter concentration on Jack's face as he stared at the box. He stepped through the entryway and silently stood behind Jack's chair.

"If that's for me, I'll love you forever," Jack said. He could smell the rich coffee and he leaned back and inhaled appreciatively.

"You are so easy, Jack." Ianto was amused. He placed the mug down on the corner of the desk where it was out of the way. "And would I ever come up with coffee that wasn't for you?"

"Only if you wanted to torture me," Jack said with a grin. "How are you feeling after last night?"

Ianto shrugged. "Don't remember much, to be honest. Hangover's gone, so that's something." Jack chuckled and sipped his coffee. Ianto hunkered down on his heels so he was level with the desk and looked at the box.

"Interesting puzzle here." Jack picked up the mug and drank, sighing in appreciation.

"May I?" Ianto asked. Jack nodded and Ianto picked it up. He moved it about in his hands while Jack sat back and watched. Ianto could see the areas where Jack had scored at almost invisible seams as he tried to pry it open. Ianto stroked the surface lightly, looking for a pattern or anything that wasn't immediately evident to the eye.

"Sorry to interrupt," a voice said from outside the room and they both looked up. Rob stood in the doorway, looking dusty. "Thought you might want to see this." He was carrying a large box. Jack pushed the tools off to one side and half of them rolled off the desk and onto the floor and gestured for Rob to put the box on his desk. Ianto shook his head and put the artifact he had been looking at on the floor before going to pick up the stuff that had fallen. Jack stood up and looked into the box, whistling softly.

"You recognize this?" Rob asked. The item was a long cylinder which had flashing lights. Jack nodded. "Anything I need to worry about?"

"Maybe," Jack said, glancing up for a moment before his gaze returned to the item. "Although this is a little early," he said cryptically as he flipped through a calendar on his desk. "Or is it late? Ianto, do you remember back in '07 we had several weeks of junk showing up?"

"Yes, how could I forget? It drove me mad." Ianto had finished picking up the tools and set them in a pile off to one side. He looked into the box. "Oh."

"Yeah, exactly what I was thinking," Jack said. "Can you…"

"On it," Ianto said. He turned and went over to the wall safe. Typing in the code, he opened the main door and input something from memory which activated the vault, retrieving an item. Jack grinned.

"Who needs computers?" He said with a laugh as Ianto pulled a sealed box out of the safe and handed it to Jack.

"I'll go get the other parts," he said. Ianto gave the two men a nod and left the room, making his way down the steps and across the Hub proper and through one of the archways. Rob looked mystified. He knew he was standing right there, but the two men had communicated without saying more than a few words.

"Let's take this out to the playroom," Jack said, referring to that area that was set aside for exploring alien artifacts. Rob nodded and picked up the box, leaving Jack to carry the item from out of the safe. When they got to the table, Jack opened the safe box and left the item in it, but with the box open.

"So?" Rob asked.

"We're waiting for Ianto to retrieve the other parts," Jack said. "See how many we have." He saw that Rob was giving him a blank look, so he explained as the rest of the team drifted over. They had been curious when they saw Ianto stride across the room and head into the vaults, clearly on the mission. "You see, we've been collecting stuff that comes through the rift since the late 1800's. And before that, if we can find out where it's buried, or who has something that isn't from around here.

"Since that time about every 18 years, almost like clockwork, a piece of Kralyro tech has fallen through the rift." He looked around to see if everyone was following him. They all looked at him expectantly and he continued. "The best we can figure is that something is in an alternate dimension and it is falling apart – a piece breaks off and gets sent through the rift. That window happens every 18 years. Now I could be mistaken, but we were supposed to receive one of these drops about 2 years ago and it never showed. But maybe my math is off."

"Jack?" Ianto's voice came through the coms on the common channel. "I can locate everything except for 2097. Did something come through then? "

Jack thought about it a moment. "Oh, that was Victor. Check in the computer for Karl intead of Kral. If not, shift your hands over on the keyboard and try some other variation of that." They could hear tapping in the background. "Victor was a bad typist." He grinned as he heard a deep sigh. "Sorry, Mr. Jones, but you know well that not all the archivists had your attention to detail." Jack's shoulders started shaking in a silent laugh as they heard Ianto mutter something about amateurs. The typing continued in the background.

"Wait a minute, I think I found something. Be back," Ianto said before cutting the com.

"So what happens when we get all the parts?" Todd asked, curious.

"That's where it gets dicey," Jack said. He looked eager for the idea of a challenge. "We're not sure what this baby will do. Will it give us something that will save mankind or blow up in our faces and send us back to the Stone Age?"

"And you're going to put it together before figuring which one it's going to be?" Julia asked with a doubtful look on her face.

"No, of course not!" Jack said. "We figure it out _before_ we blow the place up." He grinned at them in anticipation.


	23. Chapter 23

They heard a clatter from the direction of the archives. Gwri and Rob went over and helped Ianto lug several archive boxes into the room. They made a couple of trips and eventually there was a stack of boxes surrounding the group.

"This is it?" Todd asked. He opened a box and looked inside. There seemed to be a jumble of electronic components in the one he looked. "Looks like junk."

"Ah, but its alien junk," Jack said. "Where's the big piece?" He turned to Ianto who pulled something out of his pocket. He tapped a key and they heard a noise as a large crate came through the archway and Ianto directed it over to an open space on the floor. He tapped another button and it came to a rest.

"Gotta love antigravity units," Jack said with a grin. He pulled a screwdriver out of his back pocket and handed it to Todd. "Be my guest."

Todd pulled off the top of the crate and peered inside. Reaching into one corner, he pulled a lever and the sides all dropped with a clatter. Rob had to step back to avoid getting hit. "Whoops."

"Thanks for the warning," Rob said wryly. He picked up the side that was closest to him and stacked it off to one side. The others each grabbed one of the fallen sides and leaned them up against one another. Jack walked around the jumble of parts which seemed to be stuck together in no particular order and rubbed his hands together.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Julia said. She saw that glint in Jack's eye that usually meant trouble.

"It's been a while since I had some time to play with this," Jack admitted. Ianto looked around at the boxes he had brought up from the basement and shook his head. He muttered something under his breath that Julia could have sworn was "boys and their toys." She gave him a look but he wasn't paying attention to her. He opened up a box and looked inside before closing it again.

"This is a mess, Jack. You haven't even kept up with it in what? 60 years or more?" Ianto said as he surveyed the collection of items. Jack just grinned at him. Ianto dusted off his hands and walked away to sit at an open workstation. Julia followed him and watched as he typed. He pulled up the inventory listing for anything Kralyro and started to print it out. He then did a search on any spelling variations and made sure he got them all. After a moment he noticed she was looking over his shoulder.

"Bad idea?" She asked and he shrugged.

"Maybe not. Most likely we'll find out it is some sort of alien toilet or something," Ianto said. "I just don't want to have to clean it up afterwards."

"Ah, but that's what junior staffers are for," she said after leaning towards him conspiratorially. He laughed at her comment and nodded.

"Oh, good point. Though Sherry really doesn't deserve to deal with Jack's messes." Ianto said as he turned back to the screen. Julia had the feeling that Ianto was used to cleaning up after Jack, and in fact enjoyed it. After printing out a few more pages, he turned around in his stool and watched Jack.

Jack was going through all the boxes, lifting some items out, placing them around the floor, and generally making a mess of the place. After a while, the others drifted back to their own reports and whatever they had been doing before, because it was getting pretty boring watching Jack. Julia had gone back to the OR to get some work done, although Gwri was avidly helping Jack. It was the most active Ianto had seen him yet. Rob chuckled and pulled a stool over so that he was sitting next to Ianto.

"Bet you a tenner that they get bored and give up, leaving it all there in about," he looked at his watch. "One hour."

"Oh, no, Jack can go much longer than that," Ianto assured him. "Kip, however, won't last the hour."

"Are you saying that Jack has the stamina to go the distance?" Rob asked with a grin. Ianto started laughing.

"Oh, you have no idea!" Ianto said with a grin. Jack looked over at them as they both laughed uproariously. Shaking his head, he went back to looking at all the available parts he had spread out onto the floor.

It only took a half an hour before Kip got bored enough to go do some real work. Rob ruefully handed over the money to Ianto as they worked at their stations. Ianto was doing a visual scan of the archives in case any missing items showed up as being miscataloged. The call went out for take away but he was so absorbed in what he was reading that he didn't respond when Sherry asked him what he wanted.

"Ianto?" She finally had to touch him on the shoulder to get his attention. He jumped.

"I'm sorry Sherry, did you say something?" Ianto blinked at her, trying to focus on something other than the screen for a change.

"I wanted to know if you wanted anything to eat before I leave for the evening. I'm going to make a food run," she said softly. She looked tentative and he realized that she probably had to assert herself to get his attention; he had been so absorbed in what he was doing he knew she had to have been there a while waiting for him to notice her.

"Whatever you get is fine," he assured her. He wasn't really hungry, but he was sure he would be once the food actually arrived. She nodded and gave him a shy smile as she left to go put in the order. Ianto picked up the printouts and headed back down to the vaults. He probably was aiding and abetting a madman by getting these parts for Jack, but since when was that any different from normal?

By the time he surfaced from the archives, everyone who was headed home had gone. Jack had volunteered for the rift watch, so when Ianto came back up to the main Hub, it was just the two of them left. He saw that Sherry had left a note at the console where he had been working that their food was in the fridge. Jack was still absorbed with trying to put the parts together so he wandered over to the kitchen to see what she had picked up for their evening meal. Wrapped sandwiches were on the shelf. Good enough for him, he figured. He drifted back over to where Jack was standing and watched him for a bit.

Jack was in his element. He was pacing around the strange device with another piece in his hands and was trying to figure out where it went. Ianto sat down in a nearby stool and just watched him.

"What?" Jack asked absently. Apparently he wasn't so focused that he hadn't felt Ianto following him with his eyes.

"Nothing," Ianto said, amusement lacing his voice. Jack glanced up briefly before going back to what he was doing.

"You could help if you were so inclined," Jack said. He picked up another piece and tried to see if he'd have any better luck locating the matching part. Ianto crossed his arms and stretched out his legs.

"I suppose I could," he allowed. He didn't move, however.

"Helping means actually getting up and assisting me, Ianto." Jack said. He had a frown of concentration on his face as he tried to fit the second piece in his hand into a space. He shook his head and sighed.

"I do understand what that means," Ianto said. "You said if I were inclined to help you. That was, of course, a supposition."

"Fine, don't help," Jack said. He picked up yet another piece of junk and tried to see if it had anything identifiable which would help. After a long moment, Ianto got up and moved over to one of the boxes. He peered inside and shook his head. It looked hopeless to him. Abandoning that box, he went onto another container and looked inside. All he could see was flashing lights amid the jumble of wires.

In the third box he found something promising, as it looked like it had more to it than the stuff in the other bins. Ianto picked it up and hefted it above his head so he could look at it from all angles. Jack turned towards him, speculatively eyeing the piece that Ianto held.

"That looks promising," Jack said with a nod. "See if it fits anywhere." He discarded the two pieces he had and went searching for something else that might fit the puzzle.

Ianto walked around the large ungainly construction and cocked his head as he considered it from different angles. He slanted a glance over at Jack, who was doing the same. A low chuckle escaped Ianto and Jack looked up.

"What?" He asked. He could see that Ianto was amused by something, but wasn't sure what that was. It didn't seem like this artifact held that much amusement, but sometimes you never knew.

"Saint Jack?" Ianto asked. He had an incredulous tone to his voice. Jack looked confused.

"Huh?" Jack looked at him.

"Do you know that the staff refers to you as Saint Jack?" Ianto asked. He leaned against the big piece in and grinned at Jack. "Saintly as a monk, one of them said." He could tell that Jack looked startled.

"Me?" Jack said, his movement of fitting the new piece into the construct arrested. "Why do they call me that?"

"That's what I want to know," Ianto said with amusement. "The concept rather boggles the mind. But they are under the impression that you were," he closed his eyes as he pictured the conversation, "saving yourself." Jack looked astounded.

"Yeah, that was my expression as well," he commented, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. He moved around the big piece to where Jack stood. Leaning in, he whispered into Jack's ear.

"So, were you saving yourself for me, Jack?" Jack turned towards him and he backed away. "Did you give a vow of chastity, swearing off women, men and aliens?"

Jack stared at him for a long moment before they both erupted into laughter. It was one of those moments where one of them would start to wind down, look at the other and it set them off again. Ianto had to sit back down on a box while Jack collapsed onto the floor, laughing hysterically. Eventually, they wore themselves out, random chuckles slowly stopping as breathing seemed more important than laughing.


	24. Chapter 24

At that moment the rift alarm went off. Ianto was closest to the console so he got up and went over to check the display. Jack had to brace himself on the big piece to lever himself off of the floor.

"What do we have?" He asked, a hand pressing his side as he felt a stitch from having laughed so hard. He looked over Ianto's shoulder.

"Either Weevils or some other type of aliens are having a party," Ianto said. Leaving the monitor up he went to another screen which showed the street grid for the city. The disturbance was in the old warehouse section of town – or what had been an old section in his time. He wasn't sure what was there now. He worked to pull up the CCTV for the area. Moving the camera around, he zoomed in so they could see what was going on.

"Oh, damn," Jack muttered and Ianto glanced over at him. "Graaks." Ianto stared at him as he waited for an explanation. "Think of them Weevils with an attitude."

"Lovely," Ianto said. It looked like a free for all going on down there. "What are they doing?"

"Basically? A cage match," Jack said. He peered at the monitor. "Graaks go around looking for planets where they can stage their fights. If any locals get caught in the fray, all the better." He counted at least a dozen of the aliens. "Damn."

"Should I call in the others?" Ianto asked. Jack nodded.

"Rob and Kip," Jack said. "Sherry hasn't been out in the field and we'll notify Julia if someone gets hurt. We can call Todd in if things get out of hand. But bring the boys in and have them meet us over in Grangetown. We'll bring the firepower." Ianto nodded and sent out the messages to the other men before going to get their supplies.

"Jack?" Ianto turned and paused. Jack looked up from the monitor. "What passes for a vehicle these days?"

"Look in the same place, you can't miss it," Jack said with a grin. Ianto nodded and headed downstairs to get the guns.

*

When Ianto went out the familiar exit to where the SUV had been stored in the past he had to stop. He just stared for a long moment before he heard a step behind him.

"Like it?" Jack said. He looked over Ianto's shoulder.

"You drive _that_ around the streets of Cardiff?" Ianto asked, astonished. "I guess things have changed."

_That_ was a large vehicle that didn't seem to have wheels. To Ianto it looked more like an military vehicle than anything Torchwood would use. It was still black, but had what looked like a rocket launcher mounted on top, the logo emblazoned upon its muzzle.

"I gather you're not going for subtlety," Ianto noted dryly. Jack chuckled.

"Nope. We're all official these days and everyone knows who we are," Jack said. He hefted the bag on his shoulder a little higher before moving past Ianto. The back opened up and Ianto belatedly followed Jack across the driveway. He peered inside.

The interior looked like an Army command post, with computers, scanners and other equipment ready for use. There was a small stool that was locked into a track so that the person sitting down could move back and forth between all the screens. There were a couple of fold down seats on the wall for other people to sit as well. Jack opened a hatch in the floor and Ianto saw that the area beneath the compartment could be used for storage. He dumped his bag inside and strapped it down before turning to look at Ianto.

"So, what do you think?" He asked with a grin. He took the armament case from Ianto and put it in the storage area.

"Impressive," Ianto said, answering Jack's grin with a smile. "How does it work, antigravity?"

"Sorta," Jack said as he continued to pack the equipment that Ianto had brought with him. He took a rifle and a machine gun out of one bag to bring up front. "An offshoot of the same technology they used for the Valiant. UNIT leased it out to the military and eventually it was declassified and allowed to be used in transportation. Made the naturalists happy that they weren't using petroleum products anymore." He closed the storage compartment and Ianto backed up so Jack to close the hatch. The massive door slowly closed. "Let's head out."

Ianto got in the passenger seat while Jack got in on the other side. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that this new Torchwood vehicle had a lot more room for a larger staff than the old one he remembered. He felt a light vibration as it lifted up and Jack pressed the lever forward. It was harder to drive in the city streets, if only because it was so large, but Jack controlled it with a practiced ease.

Ianto found that as usual, it was easier to focus on Jack than where they were going. Some things obviously hadn't changed and one of them was the way Jack drove. He watched Jack's profile as he drove, occasionally glancing down at the GPS device in the dashboard.

"What?" Jack asked, aware that Ianto was watching him.

"What's Sherry's story?" Ianto asked. He had been meaning to bring it up since his conversation with Julia earlier. Now was as good a time as any. "Julia said that when you first brought her in you introduced her as family." He saw Jack nod.

"She is. Sorta." Jack said as he took a left and headed out across the city. "Adopted family, I guess."

"Whose?" Ianto asked. He felt that Jack was being reticent for some odd reason. "Or is it anything you want to share?"

"No, that's not it. She's Gwen's great, great granddaughter." Ianto nodded as Jack paused. "And your great, great grandniece," Jack said. Ianto blinked. He expected the first, since she had that look to her, but not the second. Jack sighed. "She had a bit of a rough patch with her family, so I took her in. She just knows I'm a friend of the family, but not the history behind it." Ianto was quiet and just waited for him to continue. Jack drummed the steering while as he drove.

"How did that pairing come about?" Ianto wanted to know. Jack chuckled ruefully. "Oh, you have to tell now."

"Well, it was funny. Gwen and your sister got on like a house on fire once they met. In fact, she and Rhys bought a house not too far from Rhi and Johnny. That helped a lot with babysitting, as you can imagine." Jack grinned. "The kids all ended up close, but once they grew up, they drifted away from one another. Gwen's son went into law enforcement," Jack continued.

"Naturally," Ianto said with a laugh. No surprise there. "She just had the one?" Jack shook his head.

"No, three. Two boys and a girl. Owen, Jack," Ianto laughed. "And Bronwen. Welsh to the core. Owen joined the force. Jack followed Rhys into the business. They ended up buying Harwoods and Jack kept on running it. It's still in the family, actually. Bronwen was a doctor. Amazing woman, she was the spitting image of Gwen." Jack smiled as he reminisced. "Rhys wouldn't let any of them have anything to do with Torchwood, though. Too bad, I could have used them." Ianto laughed. It was good to hear that Gwen and Rhys had beaten the odds, and had made what sounded like a happy life for themselves. He also appreciated that they were there for his sister. It made the ache he still felt a little lighter.

"Alys ended up staying in Cardiff, married to a research scientist, while Gwyn got into robotics." Jack said. Ianto thought about that picture his sister left for him of his niece with a serious young man by her side. "He worked for an offshoot of a company that Martha had set up. Did quite well for himself there." Ianto nodded.

"So where is the connection?" Ianto asked. He did want to hear how his niece and nephew fared over the years, but was more curious about Sherry at the moment. They were also getting closer to Grangetown, so running out of time.

"Gwyn's granddaughter ended up going to the same uni as Owen's grandson. They hit it off and became a couple, though Lyn was a bit of a handful. Fought it left right and center, but eventually came back to Ifor after she got out of the army." Ianto chuckled. He was sure there was more to that story and hoped to hear it at some point. "Anyhow, the next thing I find out, they're married."

"So what was the problem for Sherry?" Ianto asked.

"Sherry has inherited a very old talent from the Cooper side of the family," Jack said. "She has the sight." Ianto nodded. His grandmother had also been the same, and he remembered she called it a blessing and a curse, since often one was at the mercy of whatever spirit who happened upon you.

"The problem was that she couldn't handle it, so I got her some assistance," Jack continued. "It didn't help that Lyn was skeptical about it all. She's a bit on the analytical side. Ifor is more into it, but with all of the manifestations, they just couldn't handle what was happening to poor Sherry. So I brought her to Cardiff. Got her a place to stay, and she's happy enough. She's a bit young for Torchwood, but I figure if I keep her just running the office that I can watch over her."

"Yes, well, as long as no one decides to trash the place," Ianto said drily. Jack's hands tightened on the wheel and he nodded. It wouldn't be the first time that the Hub was the target for another's aggressions. "So, Sherry doesn't know we're related?"

"No," Jack said. "That's up to you if you want to let her know." Ianto nodded. Fair enough.


	25. Chapter 25

They found themselves over in Grangetown just about the time that Rob checked in, saying he was in the area. Jack parked and told both Rob and Gwri where to meet them. He got out and Ianto followed him a moment later. Opening the back, he started pulling the stored items out while Ianto got in and started firing up the computer systems. By the time Gwri arrived, he was able to hand the tracking controls over to the younger man before stepping back out of the control centre. Jack nodded to him as Rob jogged up.

"Here, take this," Jack handed Ianto what looked to be a cross between a machine gun and a rifle. Ianto raised his eyebrow. "Here're the controls. This one will put it into automatic mode. Effective, though crude. Manual mode allows you to have more control, though it has a bit of a kick."

"What do we have?" Rob looked inside and Gwri went over the details. "Sheesh, what is this?"

"Free for all," Jack said with a clap to Rob's back. "I don't want to kill them if we don't have to, but once the blood lust starts, they're not very good at listening." He reached into the bag and pulled out some balls that looked like grenades. Ianto blinked as he started to hand out those. "Gas. Not sure if it will subdue them, but I'm willing to try anything at the moment." He also pulled out masks which he handed to each of them.

Rob efficiently stocked up, strapping a belt around his waist with ammunition. Jack handed him a similar gun to the one Ianto had. "I'll go up top and see what I can do from there," Rob said as he seated his ear com a little more firmly.

"Okay, Ianto, you're with me," Jack said, slinging another gun over his shoulder. "Kip, keep track of things and let us know what's going on if anything changes." Gwri nodded and the others moved back as the rear door closed. "Let's be careful out here."

Rob sketched a salute and slipped off into the dark, leaving Jack and Ianto by themselves. Jack silently motioned in a direction and Ianto nodded. They made their way towards the building that separated them from the fracas on the other side. The noise was deafening and they could see lights going on in the sleepy neighborhood around them. Jack swore softly and heard Gwri talking to the police department, appraising them of the situation and the need for possible crowd control. Ianto headed off to the left while Jack went right around the building. They tried to keep quiet as they walked around the debris from the fight, but the aliens were too intent on their own battle to notice the sound of the Torchwood team approaching.

Jack heard the faint sound over the com that indicated Rob was in position. He recognized the old SAS signal and he smiled as he removed a grenade from his coat pocket. He got to the corner of the building and peered around it to see what was going on.

On the other side of the building Ianto crept along, all too aware that they needed to remain silent so as not to draw attention to themselves. He found his way blocked by a wall and knew he was going to have to climb over. Looking around, he didn't see anything that would work as a boost, so he crouched down and pushed off his heels, stretching to catch hold of the crumbling break edifice in front of him. He was able to grab enough so that he could scrabble up to the top. It was about two feet thick so he was able to get a leg up on top and pull himself the rest of the way. Panting as softly as he could, he waited for his breathing to slow down.

He looked down and had to stifle a gasp. Bodies littered the ground; parts ripped off and tossed who knew where. Some of the aliens were still alive, moving feebly. A couple of hapless humans looked like they had gotten mixed up in the fight. Ianto scanned the area and saw that the battle had moved off away from the building. He also saw that there was a good sized ledge which would let him get some height above the fighting.

Moving carefully, he stood up and moved along the ledge until he was at the edge of the building. The sound was growing louder and he stood on the cornice and watched the melee below. It was a madhouse. The Graak were a small race, green in appearance and they apparently went naked into these battles. They had bright yellow crests which rose and fell, depending on their mood, as well as large shell shaped ears and a shock of black fur on the tips. Ianto watched two of them grappling below.

"Ianto," Jack's voice whispered quietly in his ear. "Are you in position?"

"Yup, up on a ledge. You?" Ianto was reaching carefully into the bag slung across his back and pulled out one of the grenades.

"Ready. Rob?" Jack asked. Ianto saw something in the dark at the other end of the building and assumed it was Jack.

"All set," Rob's low voice said.

"Ooooh, I love it when you whisper sweet nothings in my ear," Jack said with a teasing note in his voice. Ianto just shook his head.

"Sir?" Rob sounded confused and Ianto chuckled.

"Don't mind him, Rob. Until he sticks his hand someplace you don't want him to," Ianto said with a grin. Jack protested softly. "Back to business, Jack. Leave the celebrating for afterwards."

"Spoilsport," Jack said. "All right, Ianto, you and I will toss the grenades and see if they have any effect. Either way it's going to draw attention to us, so as soon as you launch them, move. We'll see if they do anything. If not, we go to the guns."

"No way to reason with them?" Ianto asked. Jack snorted in his ear.

"Not unless you're the female prize, Ianto. Do they look like they want to reason?" Jack paused. "Masks, gentlemen. Okay, on the count of three." He pulled on his mask and primed the grenade in his hand. "One."

Ianto pulled the pin on his. He made sure that the elastic band was tight enough to hold his mask on. "Two." He braced himself against the wall so he could throw.

"Three," Jack grunted and lobbed the grenade into the mass of bodies a split second before Ianto threw his. The two went off with flashes and erupted into a cloud of gas. Ianto moved back along the ledge out of view while Jack slipped back around the corner. After a few moments, Ianto peered out into the quadrangle. The smoke was dissipating and nothing seemed changed.


	26. Chapter 26

"Damn," Jack swore. "Okay, we have to do it the hard way. Rob, fire a warning perimeter. Let's see what they do." They could hear sirens off in the distance and knew that the locals had complained. "Kip, make sure the police don't do anything stupid."

"Yes, sir," Gwri said through their coms. "It will be my pleasure."

Ianto glanced up as he heard Rob open fire. He made a precise line across the ground and the aliens stopped abruptly. They looked around for the gunman, but didn't think to look up. Ianto rested against the building and brought his gun up. He didn't dare use the rifle mode while he was on the ledge. If it really did have the kick that Jack said he would probably get thrown to the ground below. A moment later, he saw Jack walk out into quadrangle.

"All right, time to go. Go party on someone else's planet!" Jack yelled. Several of the Graaks turned towards him aggressively, their headcrests rising. "I don't want to shoot you, but I will." Jack braced himself and brought the gun up so that it was facing the half dozen Graaks who were all headed towards him. "Stop right there."

A single shot came from the roof and one of the Graaks jumped back, intimidated. Two of the others started fighting with it, ripping it to pieces. This was obviously not a race where weakness of any kind was tolerated. Ianto watched as several more converged on Jack, their large ears canted forward.

"Rob, do that again," Ianto said. He thought he saw something on the last shot and wanted to be certain. He had an idea forming. Rob shot out a row of bullets quite close to Jack. The Captain didn't flinch, but the approaching Graak shied off, ears laid back. They also appeared to grimace as well.

"Kip?" Ianto asked.

"Yup?" Gwri said. He was watching what was going on and tracking the aliens to make sure that they didn't slink off. So far they were all concentrated in this one area. The police had arrived and were waiting for permission to go in. Already a crowd was forming. "What's up?"

"Got anything in there that does sonics?" Ianto asked. Jack started to laugh softly. The Graaks were milling around, not fighting, but not attacking Jack. It seemed they had a standoff.

"Do it," Jack said. "Rob can cover."

Ianto worked his way back on the ledge and dropped down off the wall. He made his way down the alley and emerged into a sea of emergency vehicles. Two PCs saw him coming with the gun slung over his shoulder and tried to stop him.

"Torchwood, stand back," he said as he pushed his way through. He saw a group of police officials milling around the Torchwood vehicle. They stared at him when he walked up. He banged on the back and Gwri opened a small access panel. Handing him a small device, Gwri slammed the door shut again before anyone could see inside.

"Excuse me, DS Carpenter here. What's going on?" A burly man walked up to Ianto and stood in his way.

"Torchwood business. Just have the emergency response people here so once we clear out, you can help the people," Ianto told him.

"Never saw you before. You new?" The man asked. The police turned at the sound of sporadic gunfire. "What the hell?" The detective asked.

"Nope," Ianto said. He examined the device and saw that it was a sonic emitter. It had a dial for different frequencies. He hoped it worked. "Agent Ianto Jones. Please wait here." He turned away from the group of detectives and headed back the way he came. Several of them protested and a couple tried to chase after him, but he stopped and told them not to before heading back to where he needed to be.

He shoved the emitter in his pocket and clambered up onto the wall again. Moving back along the ledge he moved into position. A glance behind him saw that the police were still following him, but keeping back. He ignored them. As long as they didn't interfere with what was going on, he didn't care what they saw.

"I'm back," he said softly. He could see Jack nod. "Let's see if this does anything." He pulled the item out of his pocket and pressed a button. Immediately the Graaks reacted violently, attacking one another and several going after Jack. Jack tried to shoot but they moved too fast for him. He went down under the pile of bodies.

Ianto swore and turned the dial. Several of the Graaks started shaking their heads and were pulling at their ears. Good. This one seemed to be better. Ianto dropped off the ledge and started working his way towards Jack. It seemed that wherever he aimed the emitter the Graaks were affected. He tried turning up the volume and several of them dropped to the ground, their ears bleeding. He turned it down a bit. No need to hurt them. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Jack emerge from under the pile of alien bodies. The aliens were clutching their heads and whining. Jack was dusting off his clothes as Ianto arrived.

"Good idea," Jack said with a nod.

"You all right?" Ianto asked. He swept around in a circle and the creatures backed off. Jack nodded. "Good. Now what?"

"Good question. We don't have enough restraints," Jack said ruefully. "Why couldn't they have just come in a ship? I could handle a ship. I could pack them all up and send them back to wherever it is they come from. But no. They have to come through the rift." He was pacing back and forth. "What the heck are we going to do with them?"

"What's that?" They both heard Rob say.

"What's what?" Jack asked, peering up at the building.

"Off to your right," Rob said. "Something's over there." Jack looked at Ianto, who shrugged. Together they started moving in that direction, Ianto keeping a careful eye on the Graaks to make sure he could aim the emitter at them if he had to. They walked through an area littered with bodies. This must be close to where the rift opened.

Something glinted and Jack picked up his pace, Ianto following behind him. Ianto looked back and saw that the Graak were following them en masse. As long as they kept a safe distance he wasn't too worried, but he kept the emitter handy, just in case. The glint became a shimmer and they saw what looked like a ripple of something translucent. A cylinder type opening of dark grey metal pierced the rippling texture.

"A door?" Ianto asked. Jack shrugged.

"Only one way to find out," he said and he walked through the gateway before Ianto could utter a protest. He could hear the Graaks trooping towards him, the sound of their feet and myriad grunts a little unnerving. He backed towards the opening, his gaze on the approaching creatures.

"Ianto, we're in luck," Jack's voice said behind him. He jumped at the sound. He hadn't heard Jack coming back. "It's a gateway. Not sure to where, but at this point it's better than taking two hundred Graaks back to the Hub. Now we just have to convince them to go back."

"I could circle around and herd them in," Ianto said with a quick glance at Jack. Jack nodded.

"I could do the same. I should be able to emit a similar frequency with my vortex manipulator," Jack said. "You go that way, I'll go this. Let's see if we can push them back to wherever they came from." They split off, Ianto heading in one direction while Jack moved around the group into the dark. There seemed to be isolated bursts of fighting as some of the more aggressive males continued the battle for dominance.

Together, the two men herded the aliens down to the rift opening. Ianto saw some flashes and wondered if it was starting to destabilize. He didn't want to think about what it would take to get rid of the aliens if that happened. He could see that the local constabularies were watching with astonished faces as the two men guided the aliens down the hill and towards the large cylinder doorway. Rob stayed at his post just in case the violence erupted again, but they were soon able to get all of the stragglers back through to the other side.

After the last one had gone through, Jack stared at the entryway. It pulsed, but didn't seem to be leaving.

"Hmmm, wonder why it's doing that?" He asked. Ianto shrugged.

"Maybe it's because not all of the bodies that went through the first time are able to get back?" Ianto asked. He didn't look forward to the idea of dragging bodies and tossing them through the rift opening.

"Don't know," Jack said. He scanned the opening and held up his wrist. Looking intently at the information he found there he dropped his arm back down again. He then reached into a pocket and pulled out an odd looking gun. "Let's see if this helps." He shot at the doorway.

A laser beam shot out of the muzzle and hit the doorway. The ground shook and both men staggered, Ianto going down on one knee. When he looked up, the cylinder and access to the other world was gone. Jack offered Ianto a hand and pulled him up.

"Lucky shot," Rob said with amusement. Jack looked up at the roof and waved. Ianto turned and gazed at the bodies scattered all over the place.

"Looks like we have some cleaning up to do," he said with a resigned sigh. He put his hands on his hips and surveyed the area. There were PCs wandering about, several of them staring at the dead bodies. "We still retconning?" He looked at Jack.

"Not this crowd. They can help us get rid of the bodies," Jack said. He watched as Rob crossed over to them. "Okay, let's get started. This is a playground; let's not leave anything for the kiddies to find in the morning."

Rob and Ianto went off to organize the local police, getting them to assist with the disposal of the bodies. Those humans that were found were taken to the morgue. Jack walked up as Ianto looked at one of the Graaks more closely. He saw the puzzled look on Ianto's face.

"What?" He asked. He looked down at the body.

"Is that," Ianto asked, pointing to a mass which looked like tentacles, "their genitalia?" Jack looked a little more closely.

"Might be. Never really paid attention before, but then I've only heard of these guys invading and never had to deal with it myself." He cocked his head to one side. "Hmmmm."

"Makes you wonder what the females look like," Ianto said. He reached down and grabbed the arms while Jack got the feet. They lugged the body over to a lorry and together, swung it up onto the bed.

"I don't know, the females are said to be even more aggressive," Jack said. He dusted his hands off. "Let's bring one back for Julia. She likes a challenge." Ianto nodded and the next one they found they carried over to their transport.

"What are we calling it these days?" Ianto asked. "It's not really an SUV, is it?"

"I just call it the car," Jack said. He watched as several constables carried more bodies over to the lorry and dumped them into it. "What would you call it?"

"A tank?" Ianto said, eliciting a laugh from Jack. "Urban assault vehicle?"

"Hmmm, UAV, that has a certain ring to it," Jack mused. "You were always good with naming all things Torchwood, weren't you?" They grinned at one another. "UAV it is." Rob came over now that most of the clean up was finished.

"Thank you Rob. Hope we didn't take you away from anything interesting," Jack said.

"Not really," Rob commented. "Headed back to the Hub?" Jack nodded. "Then have fun. But you might want to consider shopping for new furniture." He grinned at Jack. He handed over his guns and headed off into the night, whistling.

"What was all that about?" Jack wondered with a puzzled look on his face. Ianto chuckled.

"I'll tell you later," he said.

*


	27. Chapter 27

The rift was quite active through the night, keeping Jack and Ianto busy. It was on their third return with some Weevils that they found the rest of the staff had come back in and that morning was well underway. Rob and Todd took the Weevils from the two men and brought them down to the vaults. Ianto collapsed onto the sofa and rested his head against the back, totally exhausted.

Jack leaned against the wall and watched the group work around them.

"Coffee?" Sherry asked. Jack nodded, though Ianto didn't respond. She made them each a mug of coffee and Ianto revived enough to take his. He took a sip and sighed. It was nice that someone else could make coffee for a change.

"My, you gentlemen have been busy, haven't you?" Julia's rich voice was laced with amusement. Jack grinned at her before dropping onto the sofa next to Ianto. "Leaving me presents. Really, you didn't have to do that."

"How often is it that you see a Graak in all its glory?" Jack asked. Julia shook her head and pulled up a stool so she could sit with them.

"I saw the footage. Rather violent race, aren't they?" Julia commented. "Looks like you lads had fun."

"Oh yeah," Jack said with a grin. "Barrels."

"Remind me not to go out with you next time if you think that was fun," Ianto commented faintly. Jack grinned at him. He knew that Ianto couldn't keep away any more than the rest of them. The adrenaline rush was too much of a high afterwards. Not that they had any chance to enjoy it afterwards, he thought ruefully. He was hoping that the rift would quiet down after its spate of activity the night before. He took the half empty mug out of Ianto's hand. The other man didn't stir.

"Think I wore him out," Jack commented with a glance towards Julia. She smiled.

"I do believe you have. I would recommend bed rest to recover," she said. Jack nodded wearily.

He stood up and looked down at the exhausted man in front of him. Shaking his head, he picked up Ianto's feet and moved them so that Ianto slumped over onto his side. Taking off his shoes, Jack used his coat as a pillow and placed it under Ianto's head. Ianto didn't react, other than move his face against the coat in an effort to get more comfortable.

Jack stood up and stretched. His back was bothering him and he decided he needed to get some rest as well. "Call me on the com if anyone needs me," he said to Julia. She nodded and went to the OR to get a blanket to cover Ianto. By the time she returned, Jack was gone, off to wherever he slept. She debated whether she needed to push him again to get his own flat outside of the Hub. It wasn't healthy being underground all the time. She tucked the blanket around Ianto and looked down at him. Maybe he could convince Jack.

It was a sign of Ianto's exhaustion that he slept through two rift alarms that morning, not stirring until sometime later in the afternoon. He woke and just lay there for a long while listening to the bustling sounds of the Hub. It felt good to have it filled again with people, and it was a welcome change to what he remembered when they had such a small group trying to deal with everything on their own.

He stretched, feeling rather lazy. The smell of food drew his attention and he finally sat up, slowly rolling his head back and forth to work out the stiffness.

"Welcome back to the world of the living," Rob said. He had been sitting at his console working and had turned when he heard Ianto stretch.

"Mmmm," Ianto said, stifling a yawn. "What time is it?"

"Half past one," Rob said with a grin. Ianto blinked. "There's food if you want some."

Ianto felt his stomach twist in a knot at the mention of food. He couldn't remember when he last ate. "Food sounds good." He stood up and stretched, hearing muscles pop. He followed his nose and found the containers of Thai food that had been set out for people to pick from. He made up a plate and wandered over to where Rob was working. Pulling up a stool, he sat down and ate. Rob was finishing up his report on the Graak melee from the evening before.

"So," Ianto said as he watched Rob work. "Which do you prefer – aliens or SAS?"

"Definitely the aliens," Rob said. "SRR wasn't a lot of fun, but necessary." He saw Ianto look at him and he continued. "I did a lot of things running reconnaissance that I'm not too proud of today." Ianto nodded. He understood that all too well. He finished eating and sat back with a sigh. Looking around the room, he saw that Todd was busy working, though there was no sign of either Gwri or Julia. Sherry, presumably was upstairs running the office.

Looking up towards Jack's office he saw some movement. He gave Rob a nod and headed back to the kitchen to throw out his empty plate. Making coffee, he went around offering mugs to the staff. Each accepted one gratefully. He popped his head into the autopsy room (since that was how it was being used today,) but decided that he shouldn't disturb Julia, who was up to her elbows in Graak at the moment, Gwri watching intently at her side. He went back and pulled two double espressos and brought them up to Jack's office.

Jack closed his eyes and sniffed appreciatively as he caught the familiar scent. The years melted away and he felt like the past hundred and twenty five years had been a dream for a moment as the coffee cup was set down next to his elbow.

"Thank you, Ianto. As usual, you know exactly when I need resuscitation." He smiled up at Ianto.

"Always happy to serve a need," Ianto said lightly. He walked over to the chair opposite Jack's desk and sat down. Jack picked up his mug and inhaled deeply. He sipped the coffee and thought he felt the rich caffeine pouring directly into his veins.

"Ah," he said with a satisfied sigh. Ianto chuckled and he grinned at the man sitting opposite him. "Sleep well?"

"Remarkably so," Ianto said. "That sofa is in better shape than the last one I remember." They shared a moment of amusement. Jack's grin widened as he took in Ianto's rather disheveled appearance.

"What?" Ianto asked. From the look that Jack was giving him, he felt that something was wrong.

"Nothing, just that you look adorable when you've just woken up," Jack said. Ianto rolled his eyes to the ceiling, eliciting a chuckle from the other man. "Would you like to freshen up a bit?"

"Yes, but first I need to figure out where you've hidden all of my stuff," Ianto said. He put his empty mug down on the edge of the desk. "You do have all my stuff, yes?"

"Yeah," Jack said. He could see that Ianto looked relieved. "Oh, come on, you think I wouldn't?"

"Well, one never knows." Ianto waited for a moment. "And?" Jack looked at him blankly. "Where is it, Jack? Do you still rent storage bins somewhere that you put ex-operatives' stuff in these days?"

"Ianto," Jack's tone was laced with hurt. "First of all, you have never been an ex anything. Second of all, I would never just put your stuff in a storage shed somewhere."

"No?" Ianto asked. Jack shook his head. "And why not?"

"Because I always knew that someday you'd be back, and besides," Jack looked down and toyed with the handle of his mug. "I wanted it close by so I could visit." He looked up briefly before looking back down again. Ianto thought he actually looked a little shy. The thought boggled for a moment. Shyness wasn't a term he'd normally associate with Captain Jack Harkness.

Jack shifted uncomfortably, aware of Ianto's stare. He looked back up again and lifted his chin. "Your stuff is downstairs in the lower archives. Level 16." Ianto blinked. It was rare that he had ever gone down to the lower unused levels. "I didn't want anyone to disturb it," Jack explained. Ianto nodded.

"Thank you," he said. "I guess I better go see what shape it is all in." He stood up and took his mug. "Anything I can get for you before I go?" Jack shook his head.

"No, thank you." He handed his own mug to Ianto. "I'll be here if you need anything. Got a report to do for the PM, and I'm sure that UNIT thing is going to haunt us at some point."

"Trouble?" Ianto asked. Jack shook his head.

"No, nothing like that. There'll be some inquiries about how we found out about their research. I actually feel a bit sorry for Brigadier Collins, as I'm sure he's going to be the fall guy for that," Jack said. "And it's a good thing we did find out what was going on. These people are playing with fire."

"Yes, they are," Ianto said. He remembered seeing what Rob had been looking at and he shook his head. You'd think people would know better.

"Well, if you need me, you'll know where I am." Jack nodded and Ianto left him to his paperwork.


	28. Chapter 28

After returning their mugs to the kitchenette, Ianto headed off down to the lower archive levels. This was part of the deep storage area of Torchwood where he seldom ventured. His fastidious nature rebelled at the thought of having to go where only Jack had gone before him. Though after a moment to think about it he chuckled softly to himself, knowing it wouldn't be the first time or the last that he blindly followed in Jack's footsteps. No doubt the place was in rough shape. But he found that although the air was a bit closed in, the unused sections were in relatively good shape.

He took his time, poking a bit in each level as he went down past his normal wanderings. He sighed as he saw that his work in the archives would never be truly finished. Even in the unused areas there were artifacts stored of which he hadn't been aware. He was reminded of that scene from the Indiana Jones film where the boxes were stacked up in seemingly never ending piles. Maybe this place was where they had gotten the idea, he thought to himself with a smile.

He finally reached level sixteen and looked around curiously. He wasn't sure how Jack had managed to get the contents of his flat down to this level. It wasn't like he had a lot of worldly possessions, but he had enough. He passed several empty rooms until he got to one where the door was closed. Presumably he had found the place. It had an older key lock combination on it and he paused for a moment while he considered what the combination would be.

He tried the obvious, which was his Torchwood identification number. After he had typed the number in, he heard the door open with a soft click as the lock released. Pushing open the door, he glanced around inside. The room was enormous, and Ianto blinked as he took in the placement of his belongings. He had been expecting stacks of boxes similar to what he had seen for other agents when they had no longer been needed. But that was not what he found.

He was standing in his living room, or at least the layout of what had once been his living room. The furniture was in the same place, even to the stuff he had on the walls back in his flat. Jack had set up dividers where he needed to hang the artwork, and it separated the rooms in the large area.

Ianto walked though the doorway and stepped inside. It was remarkably dust free, for which he was thankful. It felt a little surreal to be wandering around what amounted to his flat less than a week after he had last remembered seeing it. He shivered and sat down on the sofa, automatically shifting away from the broken spring where he and Jack had been a bit too energetic on one memorable occasion.

He glanced around. It was uncanny. Jack had even placed the photos of his family in the same place on the entertainment console. He stared at the battered old television. He had never bothered to upgrade it, preferring the nostalgic feeling of watching old movies on it when he had the time. He had never spent enough time at home to really justify buying anything else. Jack had offered to give him some of Owen's stuff, but Ianto had refused it. It just hadn't seemed right. He got up and went over to the cabinet and picked up the photo which showed his sister and himself at some family function, laughing together. Smiling down at it, he caressed the face of his sister gently before putting it back on the shelf. He sighed.

Turning away from the console, he turned in the direction of his bedroom. Though there weren't walls per se, Jack had laid out his bookcases so that they formed a wall separating the two rooms. Ianto walked past the books and into the bedroom area. His bed was set up, as was the rest of his furniture. He felt a lump in his throat as he saw that Jack had placed everything as if he had just left for the day and would be back any moment. His robe lay at the foot of the bed, the covers turned back invitingly. He walked over to the bed and looked down. The side where Jack usually slept looked a bit rumpled, and Ianto wondered how many times Jack had spent the night down here, waiting for him to return. He bit his lip as he looked about the space.

He wandered over to his wardrobe, a legacy from his father, and opened the doors. Everything was exactly as he remembered. His ties hung from the rack inside the door, his suits hanging from the bar. Opening one of the drawers, he saw that his underwear was all in place. He let his fingers run along the length of a sleeve and sniffed at the familiar oil in the wood that kept the bugs away.

He looked around, but didn't notice any cameras located in the room. He had wondered. He picked out a suit that was a particular favorite of Jack's, along with the items he would need in the shower. He hung the suit from the tailor's stand that he had gotten from his father's shop. He looked at it critically, checking for wrinkles. It hung beautifully, and he let out a tiny sigh of satisfaction.

Turning away from it, he went back to the living area and sat down at the battered old roll top desk. It had been his great grandfather's and years of Jones men sitting at it had left it somewhat worse for wear.

Ianto pushed up the top and it scrolled back with a clatter. His breath caught sharply. The desk was neat, complete with pens, stamps and a notepad. In the center, his diary lay on the blotter, closed. He knew it probably had proved too much of a temptation for Jack and he shifted in his seat uncomfortably. His fingers toyed with the corner of the leather journal. It wouldn't be the first time that Jack had succumbed to lure of reading his innermost thoughts.

He flipped through the thick book, and sure enough, he could see where the pages opened as if to an area that had been read many times over the years. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before looking down. He had first started this diary when he worked in London. It was opened to a page early on in the journal and he glanced at the date. Of course. His eyes moved to the top of the page and he read the entry.

_I did it. I stayed this time, and I spoke to him. Is it wrong that I find him attractive? No, it can't be. I can't be attracted to him. Can I? _

Further down the page was another date. The writing during this time was a scribble, and Ianto remembered how frantic he had been to get it out, but not being able to tell anyone. He read on.

_I kissed him. I kissed my boss. _

_Oh god, did I just write those words? I did, didn't I?_

_Damn, I want to do it again._

Ianto turned the pages, looking to see the next entry that looked like it had been read. The tiny creases in the spine showed a natural progression to areas in the diary that had been read more than once. His gaze fell on a single line on one page.

_I shagged Jack. _

Ianto rubbed his neck. It was done, and he knew it wasn't the first time Jack had read his diary. But still, to have so much time to pour over the pages. He smiled wryly to himself. He flipped the page.

_Wow. I just looked back on yesterday. Those three words can't even begin to describe that properly. It was… I'm at a loss for words. How does one describe a mind bending experience? Because that is what it was. I think my brain melted at some point. _

_I never knew what it could be like. Never thought about it before. And now, it's all I CAN think about. When can I do it again? Will he want to do it again, or am I just so crap at it that another time would be a turn off? Oh God, can I even go in today? Can I look at him? Or do I just pretend it never happened?_

_Can I learn to live without breathing? Because that is what that would feel like. _

Two pages later:

_Can one feel happy and guilt ridden at the same time? Because I have gone from the highest of the highs to the depths of despair today. _

_Is this wrong? What I'm doing, I mean. Is this a betrayal of Lisa? Am I horrible person to move on, now that she's gone? Would she really want me to stay this way? No of course not. The Lisa I knew would have pushed me to find someone again. But is this right?_

He moved forward, scanning the pages which fell open to certain entries as he moved forward in time. One entry in particular made him pause.

_My God, I'm in love with Jack. I don't know what he feels. We don't talk. How can one talk, when we're doing…. well, that? When he touches me, I feel alive again._

_How could that be wrong when I love him?_

Another entry:

_No, this isn't wrong. It's so very, very right. I feel I can breathe again. I have meaning to my life, and a purpose. And that is to be with him, as much as I can, for as long as I can. He cares so much for everyone that someone needs to care for him, since he won't do it for himself. I can do that. I want to do that._

_I love Jack Harkness. I can't tell him, but I can show him. Maybe that will be enough._

Ianto sighed. The entries in his diary seemed to have been done by another person, a person so unsure of their place in the world and how others saw him. So much had changed since then. But the core emotions were the same now as they were then. He was comfortable with himself now, the insecurities he felt back then gone. He closed the journal and placed his hand on the cover. His gaze moved over the desk and he noticed something written on the notepad.

_There's a shower located down one level, last door on the left. Everything you need is there. – J_

Ianto chuckled softly. Jack knew him too well. Leaving the desk opened, he pushed himself up to his feet. He made his way out of the large storage room and back to the stairs, which he took down to the next level. Lights flickered on as the system registered his presence and he made his way down the hallway to the last door.


	29. Chapter 29

It was an older communal shower similar to the one the staff normally used up on the main level. Ianto closed his eyes and thought that based on its location, it shared the same plumbing as well. He marveled at the ingenuity of his Torchwood forefathers who had built such a marvelous place. Over the sinks he saw some toiletries stacked on the shelf. Moving closer, he recognized them as his own. He disrobed, carefully folding his wrinkled clothing and placed it on the nearby bench. Going back to the sink, he gathered what he needed and turned on the water at the closest shower head. Once the temperature had warmed up he stepped under the spray.

Memories of other showers crowded his thoughts as he washed, and he found himself hoping that Jack would come down and join him. He knew that wasn't practical in the middle of the day, but still he found himself wishing that he had. Tugging a towel from the ring on the wall he dried off and wrapped it around his hips. With no one down at this level, he felt fine about heading back upstairs to his bedroom to get dressed. He laughed softly. How quickly he fell back into old habits, despite the bizarre circumstances around them. He shaved before picking up his soiled clothing and carrying it up the stairs and back to the storage room.

The air felt cold against his skin and he shivered slightly as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. He peered around the bookcase and was only slightly disappointed that he didn't see Jack waiting for him. He smiled and shook his head. While the thought of Jack lying naked on his bed was nice, had he really been there the rest of the staff would have never seen them again for the duration of the day. Ianto dressed, pulling on the slate grey trousers. He unerringly went for his favorite shirt, enjoying the feeling of the red silk shirt against his skin. The tie was next, his fingers moving by habit into the slipknot. He slipped into his jacket and looked at himself in the old fashioned mirror that stood off to one side. Perfect. He nodded to himself, slapped on Jack's favorite cologne and decided it was time to go topside.

When he emerged from the vaults it was to find the staff still at work. No emergencies had happened over the time he had been downstairs, though it looked like Gwri and Julia had finished with their alien autopsy. Ianto made himself a cup of coffee. Checking his watch, he made a pot of tea as well and brought it over to where Julia sat at her desk.

"Oh, thank you, Ianto. You are a lifesaver!" She exclaimed and smiled at him warmly as he placed the teapot, cup and saucer next to her elbow. "Please, join me."

"I have my coffee here, thanks," Ianto said. He took the stool nearby and sat down.

"My you're looking rather dapper this afternoon," Julia said as she glanced up from pouring a cup. He did look very nice, and the casual elegance made her long for the days when everyone used to dress the way he did. People had no sense of style, she thought to herself.

"Thank you, Julia," he said with a warm smile. "How did your investigation go?"

"Every time I think I've seen it all, Jack pulls in something to prove me wrong," Julia said with a smile. At Ianto's raised eyebrow she continued. "The Graak seem to have a rather unique physical structure to go with that behavioral pattern. In fact, I believe they are biologically wired to fight like that."

"Darwin's theory in action?" Ianto asked as he sipped his coffee. Julia nodded.

"Yes, exactly. I would have loved to see what the female is like, though postulating just from the male anatomy, it must be a rather unique mating ritual." Ianto smiled at her comment. She seemed fascinated by the whole concept. She shook her head. "Where's Jack, by the way?"

Ianto shrugged. "No idea. Either buried in paperwork or out somewhere." His eyes glinted with amusement.

"He needs to get out more," she said with a sigh. "There's more to life than Torchwood. Sometimes we need to remind him of that." Ianto chuckled softly. "Did you actually have a life outside of here?"

"Not really, but then I came here under odd circumstances," Ianto said. "I did have a flat, but spent most of my time here."

"Did you ever get Jack out of here?" Judith asked. Ianto nodded.

"From time to time, yes." He smiled as he remembered.

"I think you need to find another flat then. And make him join you there," she said with a tiny smile. Ianto got a thoughtful look on his face. "If only to be reminded that there is a life beyond this dungeon." They sat for a moment, not saying anything as Ianto absorbed that idea.

"So how are you faring?" Julia asked, keeping her voice low so that the others wouldn't hear. Ianto glanced down at his mug as he thought about it.

"Getting there," he said before glancing back up at her. "Yesterday it hit me what it all meant." She remained quiet, but projected an air of being a confidante which made him want to share it with her. "Jack helped." The expression on her face was very understanding. "If anyone would know what this was like, it would be him."

"It's different for everyone, however," Julia said quietly. Ianto nodded. "You may still have moments of loss. The grieving process is different for everyone."

"I understand," he replied. "Jack was able to give me letters from my family. That helped a lot." He toyed with the handle of his coffee mug, looking downwards. Glancing up, he saw that Julia was gazing at him sympathetically.

A step on the stairs announced Jack's arrival. Ianto looked up and smiled warmly. "Hello."

"Hi," Jack said. He leaned against a post and crossed his arms. "I see you found everything." He gave Ianto an approving glance. Ianto's smile widened. "Just as you left it."

Ianto looked back down into his mug and saw that it was empty. "Yes. Coffee?" At Jack's hopeful look he chuckled. "I'll take that for a yes." He stood up. "Anything else I can get you, Julia?"

"No, this is quite lovely," she said. She watched as the two men walked across the room. Jack hung back and was obviously watching Ianto as he followed the other man over to the kitchen area. Julia smiled and shook her head as she turned back to her computer. Though frankly, she couldn't fault Jack for wanting to admire Ianto. He was a handsome man.

"Your usual?" Ianto asked and Jack nodded. As he prepped the coffee maker Jack leaned against the fridge.

"You okay?" He asked softly, not wanting anyone to hear their conversation. Ianto nodded. "You sure?"

"I'm fine Jack," Ianto assured him. He poured the rich coffee into Jack's mug and handed it to him. Jack was looking at him with a serious expression on his face. "What?"

"I worry about you," Jack said.

"Don't," Ianto said firmly. "Nothing to worry about." He poured the rest into his own mug and drank.

"Find everything okay?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded. "So? What did you think?"

Ianto looked up from his mug and gave Jack a sly smile. "It was amazing, though lacking something." Jack's brow furrowed with concern.

"What?" Jack frowned, wondering what Ianto had found that wasn't right.

"It was missing you, naked on the bed," Ianto said with a smile. Jack looked both relieved and enticed by the idea at the same time.

"I think something could be done about that," he said with a grin.

"Jack?" Rob called from across the room. Jack turned around and looked at him. "Mind if I go out on an assist for the local police? Seems like there's been a disturbance down in the Assembly chambers and my contact would like me to take a look at it."

"Go for it. Need assistance?" Jack asked. "Take Todd or Gwri if you want." Rob nodded and went over to tap Gwri's shoulder. Jack watched as they gathered some test equipment and left before turning back to Ianto.

"Jack, do you have a minute?" Ianto asked and nodded towards his office. Jack shrugged and indicated the way to his office. Ianto picked up his mug and walked across the room, leading the way. Once he got there, he sat back down in the chair he used previously, leaving Jack to sit down at his desk.

"Nice choice, by the way," Jack said as he walked past, lightly touching Ianto's shoulder. He always loved that combination on Ianto. Ianto smiled but said nothing. Jack sat at his desk, his fingers templed in front of him as he waited for Ianto to start. He obviously had something on his mind.


	30. Chapter 30

"Jack, can I ask you a question?" Jack nodded, though he wondered where Ianto was going to go with it. "While I was…" Ianto searched for words and figured he might as well speak what was on his mind. "While I was frozen, were there others?" Jack looked down, not wanting to meet his gaze.

"Ianto, you don't really want to ask this, do you?" Jack shifted uncomfortably in his seat. His fingers restlessly played with the pen that was sitting in front of him, as if seeking something to do.

"Yes, I do." Ianto leaned forward in his seat, elbows resting on his knees as he gazed at Jack. "I rather hope there were others." Jack looked up, startled. "Jack, it's been a long time. I wouldn't ask you to be alone all that time. You need to have someone to take care of you." Ianto paused for a moment while he approached the main area of his concern. "Seeing what you did with my flat, well, let's just say I got a little concerned."

"Why's that?" Jack was puzzled by Ianto's reaction.

"Jack, you've been sleeping down there, haven't you?" Ianto asked, his concern with Jack's isolation showing. "If I was truly gone you can't live like that."

"But I knew you'd be back," Jack said, thinking it was entirely reasonable.

"You didn't know that, Jack. You hoped. Thankfully, it worked out," Ianto said. "But it worries me. First the comments by the staff, then what I've seen with my own eyes." He got up and walked around the desk. Jack leaned back in his chair and looked up at Ianto. "I don't want to imagine you on your own." Ianto knelt down so that he was level with Jack.

"I'm fine," Jack assured him, only to see Ianto shake his head. "I'm not?" Ianto reached up and touched his hand. Jack stared down at him. There was so much that they never said to one another. It was only during those dark hours of the night when they were sometimes able to share how they felt. But in the light of day, neither of them were comfortable with these sorts of chats. The fact that Ianto was pushing it showed how concerned he was with how Jack was doing.

"You didn't answer my question," Ianto said softly. He looked at Jack and waited for him to respond.

"Yes," Jack answered. He didn't want to go into details, and Ianto debated about pressing him for them. He stared into Jack's eyes for a long moment before nodding slowly.

"Good. A hundred and twenty five years is too long to be on your own. Please know that I would never want that for you." Ianto said. Jack tugged on Ianto's hand, pulling him closer.

"You are a remarkable man. You know that, don't you?" Jack asked softly. Ianto only smiled. "What do you want to know?"

"That you weren't alone all those years," Ianto responded in a low tone. He was leaning in between Jack's legs. "I don't need the details."

"That saint comment still bothering you?" Jack asked with amusement. He watched as Ianto's lips twitched in reaction. "Not sure how that one got started, actually."

"Apparently you've been more discreet than you have been known to be in the past," Ianto teased him. He really didn't want to know the details, but he trusted Jack to tell him the truth. That was enough. "You'll ruin your reputation that way."

"I'm sure I'll survive," Jack said with a grin. "So, you mentioned earlier you were looking for someone naked in your bed?"

"Mmmm," Ianto responded, allowing Jack to change the topic. "I was hoping to find one when I got out of the shower, but alas, was disappointed." Jack grinned lasciviously.

"We'll have to see what we can do about that," Jack said, his eyes going dark with desire. He started to lean forward for a kiss. At that moment, when the timing couldn't have been worse, Todd stuck his head in to interrupt.

"Boss, we got a problem," he said. Jack had his back to the entryway, so Todd didn't immediately notice that Jack wasn't alone. As Jack turned to look towards Todd, the young man realized that Ianto was there. "Oh, I'm sorry." Ianto stood up and turned to casually dust off his trousers.

"What's the problem?" Jack asked. He turned fully in his chair so that he was facing Todd and blocking the young programmer's view of Ianto.

"Rob called. It looks like that problem he went out to look at for the locals is a bit more than he thought. He's hoping you can go out and take a look at it." Todd said. Jack nodded and reached for his com which was lying on the desk. He fitted it on his ear and tapped it. "Rob? What do you have?"

"Jack, I don't even know how to describe this one for you," Rob's voice came clearly over the com. "Can you come down to the Assembly in Cathays Park? Bring Julia if you can. And a mop."

"Oh, that doesn't sound good," Jack said. "I'll bring Julia and Ianto with me." He watched Ianto out of the corner of his eye as Ianto fished something out of a pocket and fitted it into his ear. Trust Ianto to find everything he needed in an efficient manner. Ianto tied into the conversation and walked past Todd to go get Julia and apprise her of the situation.

He listened to Rob describe the scene in the Cabinet meeting room, where something had ripped through the hall and killed several of the staff. Ianto frowned as he listened. He looked around for Julia and found her in the OR.

"Julia, Jack would like you to go out with us to the Assembly building. There's something there we need to check out," Ianto said as he stuck his head through the archway. Julia looked up and nodded before turning to pack supplies she would need.

"Any injuries?" She asked, her hand hovering over some instruments.

"No, they're all dead, from what Rob is saying." Ianto said. She nodded and moved onto her forensics box and made sure she had everything she needed there. Taking a second container, she headed up the stairs. Ianto took the heavier box from her and started to head out of the back entrance before he paused. "Rob, did you take the UAV?"

"The what?" Rob asked. Jack explained that was the new name for their vehicle. "No, I took my car since it was right outside on the Plass."

"Good," Ianto said. He headed through the archway which would bring him down to the corridor which led out to the back parking area, Julia following him. They were loading supplies in the back when Jack came through the door, his coat billowing behind him.

"All set?" Jack asked. They got in, Ianto offering the front passenger seat to Julia while he got in the back. As soon as they were moving he was firing up the computer systems and looking into any information that he could find about their destination. The com was silent since Rob had passed off any pertinent information to them already.


	31. Chapter 31

"So this is still the Crown building?" Ianto asked. Jack nodded as he navigated the crowded streets. Traffic was being rerouted and it made the short journey all the more difficult. Even with being able to control the traffic signals, all of the streets were congested, so they had to go slowly.

Ianto pulled up the CCTV cameras and started scanning around the building. The front area was crowded with emergency vehicles, and personnel were milling about the plaza in front of the building. Ianto started going back in time to see if there was anything prior to the alert going out, but nothing looked out of place right away.

"Nothing on CCTV that I can see," he reported. He tied into the central police database but learned nothing there. Jack was drumming his fingers against the steering wheel.

"So, while we wait, this is probably an excellent time to chat," Julia said. She turned in her seat so that she was looking at Jack.

"And what do we need to chat about, Jules?" Jack glanced at her before resolutely turning back towards the road. He had a feeling he knew what the topic was going to be. It was the same one that came up from time to time with her.

"What do we always chat about when we have the chance, Jack?" Julia asked in a reasonable tone. "The need for you to find a life outside of Torchwood." In the backseat Ianto sat back, keeping out of the conversation. It seemed safer that way. He heard Jack sigh.

"Julia, we've been through this before," he said, attempting to keep the exasperation out of his voice. He glanced in the mirror and saw that Ianto was studiously looking out the window. "I've been doing the same thing for years and it hasn't been a problem. I don't see any reason to change now."

"You're too isolated. You need to get out more and see the world that you are protecting," Julia said. Jack opened his mouth but no sound came out. He thought about it for a moment.

"I do get out. We're out now. Look, I'm seeing the world around me. In fact, we're stuck in it," he pointed out. She regarded him steadily for a long moment before shaking her head. Turning in her seat, she looked at Ianto.

"And what about you?" She asked.

"Who, me?" Ianto turned and looked at her. He could see Jack's reflection in the mirror. He had a smile on his face.

"No, your shadow," Julia said with a smile. She quirked an eyebrow at Ianto and he stared at her. "Of course you. You once had a life outside of Torchwood."

Ianto snorted. "Yes, it was non-existent. Julia, I am not a good example if you're looking for one for Jack. Remember my history at Torchwood." He was uncomfortable with how she had turned the tables on him. He knew she meant well, but she just didn't understand.

"You still maintained a residence outside of the Hub," she pointed out.

"Which I was hardly at most of the time," Ianto retorted. Jack was grinning now.

"You need to get out of the Hub and find a place of your own," she continued, ignoring his comment. "You need to embrace life."

"I do have a place of my own, and someone to embrace when I need to," Ianto said quietly. "That's all the life I need right now."

Julia had no response to that. And as she turned towards Jack, she saw that they had finally arrived. Jack pulled up onto the curb and parked behind two emergency vehicles. They got out, grabbed their gear and headed towards the building entrance, which had been roped off. To one side was a group of municipal employees. PCs stood by, taking statements. A DS opened the door for the Torchwood team, allowing them inside.

"Rob, where are we headed?" Jack asked.

"Upstairs and to your right," came Rob's reply. The team followed his instructions, heading up the staircase. They followed the trail of emergency personnel until they reached the meeting chamber. A very young looking PC opened the door for them. Ianto thought it odd that he averted his gaze so he didn't have to look into the room as he opened the door. They passed through and stopped abruptly.

In the middle of the room Rob stood with a scanner in his hand as he listened to a DS talk to him. He was nodding. Off to the side, Gwri was taking pictures. The room was a grisly mess. It was covered with tiny bits of matter. Rob looked up and saw them standing there and with a quiet word to the detective, made his way over to them, carefully stepping on the small bits of clean floor as he walked.

"Where are the bodies?" Julia asked. She had that detached facial mask that most medical professionals wore when working.

"All over the place," Rob said, gesturing with his scanner. "The best we can figure out was that there were three of the facilities staff in here when whatever it was happened." He paused and watched Jack look around. "If there's a piece of any of them larger than a quarter, I'll be amazed."

Ianto gazed about the room in horrified fascination. "What could have done this?" He wondered softly. He had seen a lot of crazy things in his time with Torchwood, but this had to be one of the most bizarre.

"Do you recognize this?" Rob asked. Jack nodded grimly, his mouth set in a thin line.

"Clear the room, Robert." He turned to Julia and stared at her a long moment. "There's nothing you can do here, Julia. If you want to leave, go ahead."

"No, I'll stay," she said quietly. She carefully moved further into the room, skirting around the area where it looked like most of the damage had happened. Jack called out to Gwri and he made his way over for a consultation.

"Okay, Jamie, we'll take it from here," Rob said. He escorted the detective out the door and left instructions with the PC that they didn't want to be disturbed. He closed the door and locked it before turning back to Jack. Jack was scanning the room, taking in the trail of debris. It was everywhere on the floor, walls and ceiling.

"Do you recognize this?" Julia asked. Jack nodded.

"It's something I hoped never to see here," he said softly. Gwri leaned in so he could hear better. "It was a Timeswarm."

"Pardon?" Julia asked him. "A what?" Jack sighed and looked back down at her.

"A timeswarm. They are used in the future for assassinations. Very popular in the 37th century and after. Basically, a timeswarm is a pinpoint hole through space and time to a particular point in the past. There are creatures known as the Thral'dor which are animals with extremely low level intelligence. Think of them as flying piranhas, but they're not fish. The assassin uses technology to open a portal to the place where the assassination is to take place. They then open a small window to let the Thral'dor through from their own planet to that dimension. Close the window and wait the requisite time period before opening the window back up to let the Thral'dor go home." He sighed deeply and surveyed the room again.

"This is the result that is left behind when the window is closed." Jack shook his head.


	32. Chapter 32

"Why?" Ianto asked. "What was so important about this room, and this time?" Rob looked startled. He had been wholly focused on the people who had been killed, and finding out that information. Ianto turned towards Rob. "You said the victims were staff?"

"Yes, that's what building security said," Rob said. He looked about the room which had obviously been set up for a meeting. He also was following where Ianto was headed. "But maybe they weren't supposed to be the intended victims." He nodded. "I'll go find out what was scheduled for this room and see if there had been a change." He made his way over to the door and went through it.

"Are these contracted assassinations?" Julia asked. Jack turned to stare at her. She had opened her forensics kit and was taking samples. "Who normally hired the assassins to do these timeswarms?"

"Many times it was politically motivated," Jack said. He dredged his memories for what he could remember from the agency. "Some of it was corporate espionage. You know, get rid of your rival by taking out the CEO or chief adversary. And a lot of the time they were short term time windows – maybe back a few weeks or a month." Jack started pacing in the limited space where there wasn't any body parts. He was deep in thought.

"It wasn't until the early 40th century that they started going back further in time. Someone got the bright idea of getting rid of a person's ancestor that way. Kill the person, then they never procreate and therefore your rival no longer exists. It was also a pretty effective method to know if the assassination worked," Jack commented.

"Wouldn't that cause a time paradox?" Ianto asked.

"Ah, you're thinking of the grandfather paradox," Jack said. "That would be if you went back in time and accidentally killed your own grandfather, thus cancelling yourself out. The thought is that it isn't possible, because any travelling in time would actually be part of history.

"But what if someone else pays for another person to go back and kill your grandfather? People thought it worth the gamble, if it got rid of their rival," Jack said. He watched as the door opened and Rob slipped through. "Eventually Timeswarms were made illegal in the early 43rd century."

"Because of the paradoxes?" Gwri asked. Jack shook his head.

"No, because it was deemed cruel to the Thral'dor," Jack said. "Got all of the non sentient race rights people up in arms, because they were being used without their expressed consent." Ianto rolled his eyes. Some things never changed, it would seem.

"Rob, what do you have?" Jack asked. Rob had something in his hands.

"Apparently there was supposed to be a Cabinet meeting in here today. The First Minister had a conflict and they changed the meeting at the last minute. The facilities staff thought that they would take advantage of the time to fix some electrical problems that they had been having with the lights in the room."

"So they weren't supposed to be here," Ianto said. Rob nodded. "Do you have a list of who was supposed to be in that meeting?" Rob held out the form in his hand and Ianto moved around to scan the list with him. Jack peered over his shoulder. "Usual cabinet then."

"Looks like it," Rob said. "But if the meeting got changed, wouldn't that have been a part of historical record? Maybe the facilities people were the intended targets, since anyone in the future would know that the cabinet didn't meet today."

"Not necessarily," Jack pointed out. "If someone did poor research, then they could have gone off of the official schedule that they found rather than look at the details about what happened today."

"This time stuff is confusing," Gwri said. He had been helping Julia collect samples and was sealing another container. If they could get enough specimens, they might be able to identify the victims.

"So what if they did get the wrong people?" Rob asked. Jack sighed.

"If they have the money to pay the assassin, they do it again until they get it right." Jack said. He wasn't looking forward to the idea that they might have to deal with this again. "Boys, see what you can find out about each of victims, once we identify them, and the cabinet. Sometimes a point is chosen because it is pivotal to something that affects the future. If we can find out as much info as we can, perhaps we can figure this out."

"How can one stop something like this?" Julia asked. She glanced around the room. "There doesn't seem to be any way to reason with these creatures you mention. How can you possibly prevent this from happening again?"

"We are not without resources, Dr. Ellis," Jack said with a smile. "Let's get what information we can together and then we can see how best to apply those resources to the problem." She nodded thoughtfully.

The group did a thorough sweep of the room before opening it back up again for the police to handle. Ianto and Rob stayed behind to assist in the clean up while Jack, Julia and Gwri headed back to the Hub. Cleaning up the scene was a thankless task, but the two men worked steadily with the police and facilities people to get the job done.

Several hours later they got into Rob's car to head back to the Hub. Rob sat for a moment as he used techniques to suppress the memories of what they had just done. Ianto rested against the headrest, willing his headache to go away. That had not been the most pleasant experience, and they had had to deal with hysterical relatives who were looking for their loved ones. Rob sighed heavily before starting the engine and turning the car in the direction of Mermaid Quay.

The two were silent as he drove, each lost in thought. Abruptly, Rob pulled over into an open parking space and shut off the car. Ianto turned to look at him.

"I need a drink, how about you?" Rob asked. Ianto nodded and they got out of the car. A few doors down was the entrance to a pub and Rob led the way inside. They ordered drinks and sat down at an empty table at the back. Rob knocked back the contents of a shot glass before moving onto his beer. Ianto just stuck to beer, not really wanting a repeat of his hangover experience with anything stronger. Rob stared at him for a moment before sighing.

"It never gets easy, does it?" Rob asked softly. Ianto shook his head. "I always think I've seen it all, and there's always something out there to prove me wrong." Ianto nodded. He was tracing a pattern in the water beading the outside of the glass. "How do you fight something like this? When there's no enemy to see, or reason with?"

"Jack had some ideas," Ianto said. "He must know of some ways of dealing with this. He might have done when he was at the time agency."

"What kind of future are we looking at, when people can do things like that?" Rob asked. "Makes one wonder why we bother."

"Because the alternative isn't something we want to consider," Ianto said. Rob was signaling the barman for another drink. Ianto had barely touched his.

"Maybe it would have been. Maybe we should let these aliens and people from the future do what they want," Rob suggested. The barman came over with another shot glass and beer chaser for Rob. Looking down at Ianto's untouched glass he walked away. "Maybe it would just speed things up for the human race and we can just give up rather than fight it."

"That's not the answer Rob," Ianto said with a shake of his head. He lifted the glass up and took a long pull from it. "We wouldn't exist today if someone had just lain down and let the aliens walk all over us in the past." Rob finished off his first beer quickly before turning towards the shot glass that the barman had put on the table in front of him.

"Maybe that would have been a good thing," Rob said. He was feeling rather defeated and morose, which was unusual for him. But having to deal with the friends and families of the people who had just been killed had been disturbing. It was one thing when you signed up for it knowing the consequences. It was another when you had innocents caught in the crossfire.

"No, I don't think it would," Ianto replied. He leaned forward and gently touched Rob's hand which was holding the full shot glass. "I have seen the destruction of everything I care for time and again. The girl I wanted to marry was partially converted into a Cyberman and left to die. I've seen the end of the world several times and because we were there to do something about it, we stopped it from happening.

"Rob, what we do matters. And the future isn't all bad. Think about it. Jack comes from the future. He grew up on a world that was nothing like this one. He's seen such fantastic things that we can only dream about. And he chooses to stay here because he thinks we're worth it. We can't give up on ourselves. He won't let us." Rob looked up and saw the sincerity in Ianto's gaze. "I think the human race is worth it."

"Yeah?" Rob asked.

"Yeah," Ianto nodded. He lifted his glass up. "Let's toast the human race." Rob glanced down and picked up his glass. Clinking it against Ianto's he held it up.

"Here's to hoping for a better future," he said before drinking. Ianto nodded and drank down his beer. Putting his glass down, he smiled at Rob.

"Finish that up and let's head back. Jack needs us," he said. Rob nodded before drinking. He paused after a moment and put down his glass.

"How does Jack live with it?" Ianto tilted his head and Rob continued. "Knowing what sort of things are out there, and what can happen?"

"That's why I want to be there for him," Ianto said. "He bottles up most of it so no one can see. When something like what happened today occurs, it eats at him. I think he is thinking the same thing you are, Rob. That when he thinks of the future and what people are capable of, he wonders. But in the light of day, he has to go on."

"He doesn't have much choice, does it?" Rob said soberly. Ianto shook his head. "Poor man." Rob sighed. "All right, let's get back to the Hub. We're needed, after all."

"Yes, we are," Ianto said with a tiny smile. He pulled out some money and left it on the table to cover their drinks. "Come on, let's head back." The two walked out the door and back to Rob's car, where they headed back to the Hub, and Jack.

*


	33. Chapter 33

Later that day Jack called for a meeting in the boardroom. Once everyone was seated, he got started.

"All right, this is what we know." Jack was pacing back and forth and he started ticking off points on his hand as he spoke. "The First Minister and his Cabinet were supposed to meet today. Due to a conflict with a foreign dignitary showing up with pretty much no notice, the Minister had to cancel the board meeting. We have a list of all of the Cabinet members as well as the agenda for what they were supposed to discuss. From what we can tell, there was nothing in particular about that agenda that might explain why that meeting was chosen for the assassination attempt.

"So it could be just that the contracted assassin knew the schedule for regular meetings and was going for that. If so, once they realize that they didn't get their target they'll try again." Jack turned as he got near the wall and paused. "But let's consider the possibility that the assassin was good and had done his research. If one of the three facilities staff was the intended victim, then the job was done and there won't be another attempt."

"If it is the former, how long would we have to wait before another attempt was tried?" Rob asked. He had worked through his earlier issues and was wholly focused on the task at hand. A methodical approach might help with a solution before more people were hurt.

"It depends. The device which generates the time vortex window is expensive and hard to get. It also has a large power drain and needs to be recharged," Jack said. "So if it is a missed hit, they would have to wait for the power to regenerate. That is usually a three to five day wait.

"However, that means nothing to us since we're on the far end of the timespan. The assassin could easily wait the five days their time and still attack us today. The only saving grace is that they can't do it too close to the original window because of the paradox involved, and the destabilization of the timeline."

"And an assassin would care about this?" Ianto asked. He was taking notes and trying to organize what they knew in case it should prove to be helpful. Ianto was typing on the keyboard but looking at Jack. It was one of those abilities that often unnerved people, since he didn't need to look at the display or the keyboard, and could focus on the person speaking.

"They do because of something that is known as a timelash," Jack said. "A timelash is a reverberation in time. What's a good way to explain it?" Jack paced back and forth for a moment before turning back to the group. "Say I opened a door and the difference in airflow causes the windows to rattle. There's a change in air pressure as the air from outside interacts with the air inside my room. Opening a window for a timeswarm isn't just opening up the same door again and again. It's opening up the door, then moving to the window and doing the same. A cross breeze occurs. Occasionally the breeze is so strong it can knock things over, thus breaking your favorite vase. Some people used to refer to it as the boomerang effect as well, since the effects usually rebound on the person creating the window in the first place.

"A timelash can occur when you open time windows too close to one another. It can change not only the time flow for the area you're headed, but it can reflect back on your present, and causes havoc. That's one of the good things about it, since it means you can't have people indiscriminately sending timeswarms out every time they got ticked at another person." Jack resumed his pacing.

"Add to that you can only do it so many times to the same time frame, and you're limited on a number of fronts. One is that it is expensive to do, so money might be a problem and you can't hire the assassin for more than one or two attempts. Another is that the assassin doesn't want to have to deal with the timelash issue. And the third is that you can't go back too many times or you run into the swiss cheese factor." He looked up and was met with blank faces from his group. "Time can collapse upon itself if you punch too many holes in it. You do that enough, it destabilizes everything and you may just eliminate your own timeline in the process."

"My head hurts," Gwri said as he rubbed his temples. Julia nodded in sympathy. Todd was looking rather cross-eyed at the concepts that Jack was explaining. Rob and Ianto seemed to be with him, however. Sherry wasn't in the meeting as she was watching the office upstairs and none of them really wanted her involved in this one.

"So what's the next step?" Rob asked. "Do we just wait and see what happens?" Jack shook his head.

"I hate waiting. What do we have on the workers who were killed? Anything that might point towards one of them being the intended target?" Jack asked. He continued to pace back and forth as he thought.

Rob looked down at his notes. "Terence Davlin, age 42, master electrician. A bachelor with no family to speak of other than an ailing aunt in Swansea, so he probably isn't our man. Second victim was Joshua Davies, age 24. Journeyman electrician, newly married. No children that we know of." Rob paused and sighed heavily as he got to the third individual. "Last victim was Nathaniel Malloy, age 31. Wife and four children under the age of ten with another one on the way.

"Nothing in any of their work records which would point to a reason to kill any of them," Rob concluded, looking back up again. Todd shuffled his paperwork and cleared his throat, which got everyone's attention.

"I did a computer check on each of them and other than Molloy who had several mortgages against his house and some heavy credit card debt, there's nothing special about them. Davlin rented a flat on the other side of town. The man didn't even own a computer," they could hear the tone of disbelief in Todd's voice as he spoke. "Davies owed a house over in Splot with his wife. Again, nothing exceptional about him that we can find out."

Ianto pulled up the Torchwood access pages for databases and checked into the records on his own local display. Jack moved around the table as he thought, pausing behind Ianto's back for a moment to look over his shoulder. He nodded when he saw that Ianto had transferred money into the widows' accounts and also paid off any outstanding loans for Mrs. Malloy. It was the least that they could do for the poor women. He continued his circuit around the room, thinking.

"So let's think out of the box. If one of these men was the intended victim, what might have been prevented?"

"Davlin could have gotten married, won the lottery and started that rival company that you mentioned earlier," Rob suggested. Jack looked at him for a moment and nodded. Ianto wrote it down as a possibility.

"How good are records in the future?" Julia mused. Jack turned his attention to her. "I know you can't tell us specifically, but is there something cataclysmic that happens at some point which would mean that the records they have aren't as good as we think they are?" Jack looked thoughtful as he paced about the room. "And how often do they get it wrong like this?"

"It isn't the most exact science," Jack admitted. He seemed on the verge of saying something else, but shook his head. "Toss some other ideas at me."

"One of Malloy's children ends up being the one to start that company, or their kid's kids," Todd suggested. "Maybe they got the wrong Malloy."

"Possible," Ianto said. He pulled up records on the family. "There are at least three generations with the same Christian name."

"So, if it was the right surname target but the wrong generation, what can we do to prevent them from trying again?" Julia asked.

"Bring the family in here so they're hidden?" Gwri suggested. Jack frowned at that idea. He didn't want a lot of children underfoot. There was too much trouble that they could get into. Ianto smiled when he saw Jack's expression.

"Drug them and hide them here," Ianto said. "Get them away from where they can be harmed, but out of it so they won't see anything they shouldn't, especially if it was the case of one of them seeing something here that leads them to do something in the future that creates this problem in the first place."

"I think I actually followed that," Todd said with a slightly confused look on his face. Ianto grinned at him.

"That does bring up the question that if we do something to interfere with potentially historical events which then leads to something happening which would not have otherwise," Julia said. She had a look of concentration on her face as she thought. "Thus creating the moment in time which leads to the person hiring the assassin in the first place." Gwri groaned and rubbed his temples.

"Playing with time can be tricky," Jack said with a grin as he patted Gwri on the shoulder. "Not to worry, Kip, you wouldn't be the first one it gives a headache to."

"What about the Doctor?" Ianto asked. "Could he help us out?" The others turned to look at Jack.

"No way to contact him," Jack said. "No, for this one, we're on our own." They all looked at one another soberly.

"Back at the Assembly, you said we were not without resources," Julia said. She looked up at Jack, who had paused behind her chair. "What are they?"

"All of you," he said simply. "My Torchwood team."


	34. Chapter 34

Gwri dropped his head on the desk. "We're doomed." Jack laughed and patted him on the back.

"Oh, come on! I wouldn't have picked all of you for the team if I hadn't thought you could do it," he said encouragingly. "Besides, you have a dashing leader to help you. What's not to love about it?"

Ianto shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. He watched as Jack cajoled the group, getting more different and wilder ideas on how to figure out all of the possible angles. He noticed that Rob was rather quiet and he quirked an eyebrow at the man sitting across from him.

Jack stopped at the end of the table closest to them and looked from one to the other. "Come on boys, you're not playing along. No ideas?"

"Plenty of them, just none worth speaking," Ianto replied. Jack turned his attention to Rob and leaned his hip on the table.

"And what about you?" He asked. He leaned forward to see what Rob was doing on his display.

Rob had the rift logs up and he was scanning through them minutely.

"Anything?" Jack asked softly. He hadn't considered checking the rift logs, since the timeswarm hadn't actually come through the rift. Rob shrugged.

"Not sure. But I'm hoping to see that if we can peg what time the swarm descended whether we'll see a corresponding spike," he said. Jack turned to look at Julia.

"Doctor, any rough estimate of time of death?" Jack asked her.

"I left the analysis running," Julia said. She leaned forward and keyed into the medical system with her keyboard. Scanning the information there she looked up at Jack. "Time of death from the samples was approximately four hours from when I took the sample. " She looked down at her watch and mentally calculated the difference. "That would have put it in the region of two o'clock."

Jack looked over to Rob who pulled up the appropriate record. He expanded it, looking to see if there were any unusual fluctuations during that time span. He shook his head and Jack sighed in disappointment.

"Jack," Ianto said and Jack turned towards him. "Would it be a correct assumption that a spike may not correspond to the exact time that the gateway opened?" Jack furrowed his brow and gestured for Ianto to continue.

"I'm thinking of the ripple effect. One drops a stone in a still pool of water and creates ripples that go out from the middle to the edges of the pool," Ianto said. Jack nodded, following so far. "Eventually, the ripples touch the sides and bounce back inwards. Looking at the pool at that point, one would not know where the original stone was dropped.

"What's to say that since there is a certain amount of time between the future where the assassin is and now that we may see reflections of the actual event, perhaps even prior to the assassination attempt in our present?" Jack blinked. He saw exactly where Ianto was going.

"Oh, I wonder if you are right," he mused. He got up and started pacing again, the others watching as he chewed on his lip. He was wracking his brain for other references of timeswarms. Of course, in the future they didn't have a rift to watch, nor the ability to monitor the eddies and tides of it. He walked towards the far end of the room before turning abruptly.

"Rob, pull up the records on the main monitor," he requested. Rob turned on the display on the wall and routed his computer to it. He started with a two week view. It showed something similar to a brainwave scan, with peaks and valleys as the system recorded differences within the rift. He then went to the one week view for the previous week. It showed a steady up and down wave with the occasional spike.

"This," Rob said as he indicated one with his mouse," was when we had that Hoix show up in the bar last week, if you remember." Jack nodded. "This next one was some junk that Todd tossed into the archives." Rob caught Ianto's wince. "Sorry, mate."

He moved along the week, pointing out what the various spikes corresponded to in terms of Torchwood team activity. He also went back to the previous week, showing how it looked very similar. Then he moved forward to the present week.

"This," he indicated the large, sustained set of spikes," was our little alien ship that crashed too close to the rift." Ianto looked on with interest, since this was the event that led to his revival. Rob continued on through the week, pointing out the different spikes. He paused when he got to the night before. "Hmmmm." He expanded the time and pointed out the series of spikes that had come through the evening that Jack and Ianto had had to deal with. "I wonder if you're onto something, Ianto."

Rob went backwards, trying to see if there was anything similar in terms of multiple spikes in the same night. The most he could come up with going back over a year was two in one night. Last night had given them four discreet events. Plus, there had been the two alarms that morning, one which had been another Weevil alert and another of junk tossed through the rift.

Jack walked up to the display and stared at it intently. "Rob, how many of these are Weevils getting out of line?" Rob pulled up the logs and only two out of the six had been in regards to Weevils. "Damn. Was hoping that maybe they were sensitive and we could watch them for some signs that another window was going to open."

"I never really thought of Weevils as being sensitive," Gwri said.

"Actually, they have a low level collective telepathy, from what we've observed in the past," Ianto noted.

"So what next?" Todd asked. He had to stifle a yawn as it was getting late and they were all tired. Jack remained where he was, staring at the display. "Sir?"

"We watch," he said. "I don't think pulling the families in is the thing to do. Let's see if we can get a schedule for each of the cabinet members and see if anything is coming up which might be a trigger event. In the meantime, we watch the rift and see if it gets active like that again. Maybe that will give us enough warning to act."

"And how does one act?" Julia asked. To her it seemed to be an impossible situation. They had no idea when or if there would be another attack, nor the intended target. "Can we make a change that will help, or would it play right into what they want?" Jack stared at her pensively for a moment. He was well aware that anything they did could be what led to a successful attempt, if indeed it hadn't been successful already.

"Carefully, Jules. That's all we can do. It may be we can't do anything to stop it, if it has become a fixed moment in time," he said. A shadow passed over his face as he finished his comment and he turned away towards the display. After a long moment, he continued. "Go home, everyone. It's late and we still have our regular jobs to do. I'll take rift watch tonight. I want you all rested for whatever may come."

Rob opened his mouth to protest but stopped after seeing Ianto shake his head. He stared at Ianto for a long moment before shrugging. He packed up his notes and left the boardroom, followed by Todd, who was happy not to do watch that evening.

Julia left reluctantly after giving Jack a worried look. She stopped in the doorway and looked at Ianto, who was studiously avoiding her gaze. She wanted to say something, but knew that Jack wasn't in the mood to hear, so she left the room.


	35. Chapter 35

Jack finally turned around, not surprised to see Ianto still sitting there, calmly scanning through something at his console. He nodded.

"The rift looks to be quiet this evening, going by the predictor," Ianto said. "Of course, it would have been interesting to see if it was supposed to be quiet last night, and whether the timeswarm disrupted that." Jack grew thoughtful at his comment. Ianto tapped on the keyboard as he checked. "Actually, the predictor just knew of activity happening, but not that it was going to be multiple events. Hmm, I wonder if we can refine that?"

Jack walked away from the display on the wall and leaned over Ianto's shoulder, his hands resting on the arms of Ianto's chair. "I don't know if it can get that granular. I just think we're lucky to get any warning at all." They were silent for a moment as they both looked at the display.

"I should talk to Todd about it," Ianto said. "You never know. He seems bright enough to come up with something that may help." Jack nodded.

"Let's go upstairs, I'm getting hungry," Jack said. Ianto nodded and logged off the console, waiting for Jack to move before he pushed back his chair. Jack walked around towards the door and Ianto got up to follow him. He picked up a couple of the abandoned coffee mugs with the intent of taking them up to the kitchen. Jack was standing by the open doorway and he smiled. Old habits were hard to break. The lights dimmed as they passed through the doorway.

Upstairs Ianto checked the monitors and set the alarms to go off if an alert was triggered. Jack was wandering around the room, lost in thought. Ianto moved about, tidying up.

"You don't need to do that, you know," Jack observed. Ianto looked up and shrugged.

"It's something to do," he said. He put the last of the trash into a bin and stood. "Hungry?" Jack shrugged. "I think Sherry bought us sandwiches last night, but they may be spoiled by now if someone hasn't eaten them already."

"I suppose," Jack said. He didn't sound too enthusiastic about it. Ianto looked in the fridge, but the sandwiches were gone. He wandered around the floor, thinking about eating something different for a change. Jack just stood and watched him, a smile on his face.

"What?" Ianto asked, aware of Jack's scrutiny.

"Just enjoying the view," Jack said with a smile. Ianto shook his head. He wanted to suggest going out, since thoughts about his conversation with Julia were on his mind, but with everything going on it may not be a good idea to suggest leaving the Hub. He sat down at a console and started going through the CCTV cameras of the area. Perhaps a restaurant would pop out at him on one of the views that would be enticing. It was while he was doing this with Jack poking idly at a computer himself that he sat up abruptly.

"What is it?" Jack said, turning at Ianto's abrupt movement. "Did you see something?"

"Yes, but not in the way you think," Ianto said. He turned towards Jack. "I have a craving."

Jack smiled. "Oh, something I can help you with?" He stalked towards Ianto's seat with a naughty look on his face.

"Not that kind of craving," Ianto said and he had to stifle a chuckle as Jack's face fell. "The 'hungry and I finally know what I'm looking for' sort of craving."

"Oh," Jack said. He was disappointed that Ianto was thinking more about food than he had been about him. "And what sort of craving is that?" Ianto pointed towards the CCTV camera on his display.

"Fish and chips," he said decisively. "Want some?"

Jack had a brief vision of what they could be doing with feeding one another chips and found his stomach growling in response. He nodded.

"Want to go out with me?" Ianto asked as he stood up. He had replaced the old currency that he had found in his wallet down in his room with the newer stuff that Rob had given him. Patting his pocket to make sure that it was there he turned and looked at Jack. "The alarms should warn us if there's a problem and it would be nice to get out for a short walk."

"Sounds good," Jack nodded. He went to go get his coat. Together they went up to the street level and through the closed Tourist Centre. Ianto paused just outside the door as he considered which direction the shop was that he had caught on camera. Jack hung back and watched him, a slight smile on his face. He had really missed this. Ianto pointed in the direction that he wanted to go and Jack followed.

"So, what do you think about this flat idea?" Jack asked, a teasing note in his voice as he brought Ianto's attention back towards the conversation that Julia had had with them in the UAV earlier. Ianto laughed and shook his head.

"She's persistent," he said. He watched as Jack nodded. "I have the impression that this is not the first time you two have had that conversation."

"No," Jack admitted. "It comes up fairly often. And now, unfortunately, she's going to be focused on you doing the same."

"I have a flat already," Ianto said with a grin as they walked down the boardwalk. There were still people about and he was watching them as they passed. All in all, it hadn't looked like much changed that he could tell, other than some outrageous clothing choices on some of the people who were out. No more so than normal, he thought to himself.

"I don't think Julia would approve of that one," Jack said with a grin. "In fact, I'm sure she'd be psychoanalyzing me for weeks if she found out about it."

"Hmmmm." Ianto did wonder himself. "So, are you suggesting I get a flat somewhere?"

"You don't have to do anything you want to," Jack said as they turned the corner and walked down the street to the chip shop. "What do you want?"

"No idea," Ianto said. "In some ways I see it as a waste of money, but in other ways, I see that she has a point. We need to be out there and be reminded of what we're doing this all for." He gestured to the people and buildings around him. "I think sometimes we can get locked into a too narrow focus, and having some idea of what a normal life is like is a good thing."


	36. Chapter 36

"Normal," Jack mused. He looked down at the pavement as they ambled along. "I don't think I've ever had anything approaching normal."

Ianto turned his head to look at Jack. "That's not true. There have been times where you have been with people outside Torchwood." Jack looked up and waited for him to continue. "Estelle, for instance."

"That was wartime," Jack commented. They had reached the shop and he opened the door so that Ianto could go in first. There were a few people sitting and Ianto led the way to the counter. He ordered for both of them and they sat down at a table away from the few people still seated. "That was hardly what one would consider normal."

"Still," Ianto said. He toyed with the bottle of water he had ordered. "Maybe I should get a flat again." He looked up and smiled at Jack. "If only to make Julia happy."

"And that is important," Jack said with a smile.

"I like her. She isn't one of your normal choices," Ianto said. "Not that I know what is normal myself. I like them all. You have a great group here, and they genuinely care about what they're doing."

"Yeah, they work well together," Jack said with a nod. He got up when their order was called, waving for Ianto to stay seated. After retrieving their food, he placed a plate in front of Ianto before sitting down with his own.

"Oh God, this smells good," Ianto said. He closed his eyes as he inhaled and Jack chuckled at the expression of ecstasy on his face. "Good old fish and chips."

"Some things never change," Jack said with a grin as he picked up a hot piece of fish and blew on it before taking a bite. "Julia was a real find. I had to lure her away from an appointment she had, but she's made some great inroads in our work."

"Kip's interesting," Ianto said and Jack nodded. "He tends to take a back seat but I wonder at how much he isn't telling people. I also think that he isn't sleeping as much as people think." Jack grinned. "He's an observer."

Jack raised his bottle of water up to Ianto in a salute. "As stated by the master of observation himself." Ianto chuckled. "So what do you think of Rob?"

"Good man," Ianto said. "Very methodical and careful. Not sure how he survived in the SAS so long, though."

"How's that?" Jack asked. He was amused at Ianto's assessment of the current staff.

"Take today for instance. It really bothered him, what happened in the Assembly today," Ianto said. Jack nodded. "I think the worst of it was thinking of the families."

"He's lost family of his own," Jack said. "I think he can relate to it all too much when he lets himself think about it. He was one of the rising stars in the SAS when he abruptly walked away from it. He was brought to my attention by someone in UNIT who wanted to recruit him, but Rob turned him down. That's when he was referred to me.

"Doing reconnaissance I think he saw stuff that bothered him," Jack said. "He had also had some extra terrestrial run-ins while with the SAS. Half of his group had problems after that. He still hasn't talked to anyone about what happened, but he's come along in the last three years he's been with us. I think he's finally coming to terms with whatever it was."

Ianto looked thoughtful for a long moment as he ate. He wondered what it was that Rob had experienced, and thought perhaps he might be able to help him. After all, he had his own issues that he had had to work through himself.

"What's Todd's story?" Ianto asked, moving on to the last person on the staff that they hadn't talked about yet.

"Brilliant in maths, and in fact, too brilliant for his own good," Jack said as he popped a chip in his mouth. Ianto continued to eat and waited for Jack to continue. "Hacked his way into the M15's mainframes as well as CERN and NASA and apparently tied them together for an elaborate MMORPG that ran for six weeks before anyone noticed it.

"To add insult to injury, he accidentally over clocked the particle accelerators at both CERN and Fermilab and nearly blew both places to smithereens," Jack grinned at Ianto.

"Hence the reasons why you don't want him anywhere near the UNIT mainframes," Ianto said and Jack nodded. "Oops, I might have shown him how to do it. You may want to have a talk to him if you don't want him going in there."

"He's good, but he still has a ways to go. Gets too distracted by pretty lights and bright shiny things," Jack said with a smile. "I tried having him get into the system at one point and I think he was so nervous about impressing me that he all but announced to them that Torchwood was sniffing around their data. I had to make him pull out before we got caught. Perhaps you can sit with him and show him some of your more sneakier ways of doing it from a passive standpoint." Ianto nodded. He finished off the last of his chips and sat back with a satisfied sigh.

"Oh, that hit the spot," he said. He finished off his water and put the cap back on the bottle.

"That it did," Jack agreed. "Ready to walk back?" Ianto nodded and they threw their trash out before heading back out the door. Jack reached out and laced his fingers through Ianto's, eliciting a smile from the younger man.

They took their time walking back to the Hub, neither saying much as they matched their steps to one another. Ianto relished their time together, with no one else seeking Jack's attention. He could hear music playing off in the distance as they passed a street filled with clubs. A glance in that direction showed groups of people waiting to get in one of the many venues located on that street. He watched the faces of the couples as they walked. These people were living their lives with no thought to the rift below their feet, or the threat of aliens over their heads. It felt so normal.

Jack said nothing, aware that Ianto was lost in thought. They ambled along the waterfront, in no hurry to return back to the Hub. After a few moments of walking like that, Jack tugged Ianto to a stop.

"Mmmm?" Ianto said, breaking out of his reverie.

"Just wanted to show you something," Jack said. He pulled Ianto over to an estate agent's shop window. "In case Julia asks, you can say you've actually begun looking for a place." Ianto laughed and followed Jack as he led the way over to the building. There was an interactive display in the window and Jack touched the screen to show several choices to Ianto.

Ianto scanned them and wrinkled his nose. "Ugh. Modern architecture certainly hasn't improved over the years, has it?" Jack tilted his head as he regarded the glass and steel exterior that Ianto was gazing at with distaste. The building was reminiscent of a Geary design. He was more of a classical architecture man himself.

"Nothing in sewer chic, is there?" Ianto asked, looking out of the corner of his eye for Jack's reaction with a small smile on his face. As he predicted, Jack roared with laughter.

"I don't think Julia would permit a subterranean flat," Jack said after he had stopped laughing. He continued to flip through the pages of available property, occasionally glancing over to Ianto, who shook his head each time. "The whole point of the exercise is to get out topside, after all."

Ianto took Jack's hand and pulled him away from the storefront. "I've seen enough, it's all shit, to quote Owen. Let's head back."

"Works for me," Jack said with a grin. They continued their walk. As they made their way back to the Plass there were less people out and about. Ianto thought that it felt like they were alone in the world and he reveled in this all too infrequent moment of peace. Sometimes it felt as if they were constantly stemming a never ending tide of stuff coming through the rift, so when it was quiet, it was a time to savor the peace and stillness of the moment. Ianto tilted his head to one side as he looked at Jack.

"Should I be scared with you looking at me like that?" Jack asked with a grin on his face. He stopped and turned towards Ianto, using their clasped hands to swing the other man so that they were facing one another.

"Well, it all depends," Ianto said with a smile. Jack's face was shadowed by the streetlight behind him. Ianto reached up with his free hand and straightened the collar of Jack's shirt so that it fell properly. Jack glanced down at Ianto's fingers on his shirt collar before looking back up again.

"Depends on what?" Jack asked. His breath involuntarily hitched as Ianto moved closer. This Welshman held so much fascination for him. In those moments when he allowed himself to be honest with himself, he knew he was hopelessly lost without this man. He had had a lot of time to think about it, and he knew that had Ianto truly been lost he would have moved on. He wouldn't have had a choice. But having had the technology to potentially save this man's life he knew that given the choice again, he would have done exactly the same thing. It had been a very selfish decision, but one he would never regret. Having Ianto standing here before him was worth the wait, and the lonely years by himself. Though he always had a team with him, he hadn't wanted a relationship with any of them. He had been in a holding pattern. It hadn't been healthy, but it had been what it was.

"Depends on how much of my diary you're going to hold against me," Ianto said. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that Jack actually flushed at his comment. He certainly wasn't meeting his gaze as Jack looked away guiltily. It made Ianto smile.

"I couldn't help it," Jack said in a tiny voice, barely discernable above the lapping of the water against the pier. "I shouldn't have done it."

"No, you shouldn't have," Ianto said. "But I can't fault you for doing it." Jack looked up, surprised. "After all, it isn't the first time you've read my diary." Jack saw that he was smiling and tentatively smiled back at Ianto.

"You're not mad at me?" Jack asked. Ianto shook his head. "Whew." He blew out a sigh of relief. He thought back to what Ianto just said. "What makes you think I would hold anything you wrote against you?" Ianto shrugged.

"One never knows," Ianto said with a smile. "Measuring tapes aside, that is." Jack grinned.

"That one still bothers you, doesn't it?" Jack asked as he pulled Ianto closer. "We could always re-measure, just to be sure." He could feel Ianto's breath against his cheek at the other man snorted softly. "After all, practice makes perfect, and you are a bit of a perfectionist."

"Only just a bit?" Ianto said softly, his breath caressing Jack's ear. "Still think you cheated somehow on that one." Jack gave a delighted laugh before turning his head to kiss Ianto. His hand moved up Ianto's arm and he ran his fingers through Ianto's hair. The kiss deepened as they explored one another. Jack felt Ianto's hands pulling him closer and he groaned as they pressed closer to one another. After a long moment, Ianto reluctantly pulled back. If he held that kiss any longer he would be tearing Jack's clothes off right there on the Plass.

"Let's get inside," he said, his voice rough with barely suppressed desire. Jack's eyes were closed and his lips parted. It was all Ianto could do not to crush his lips against Jack's again. "We have an appointment with an empty bed."

The two men walked back to the Tourist Centre entrance, all thoughts of living anywhere else for the moment forgotten…


	37. Chapter 37

_Apologies for the delay in getting this chapter to you. Haven't had much time to write lately, but the story is still there, waiting to be written. Here's the next bit!_

_~*~_

The next morning started off with Ianto kissing Jack senseless in their underground flat where they had spent the night. While Jack was content to stay there, his vortex manipulator had alerted them to the fact that the rest of the staff were arriving. The day had started. Ianto reluctantly untangled himself from Jack's embrace and they headed down to the floor below to shower and get ready for the day.

Jack and Ianto's time in the shower took longer than either anticipated, with Ianto acting out some of his fantasies from the day before. Jack was very obliging, though he barely had the time to take off his robe and vortex manipulator before Ianto pulled him under the hot shower spray. They took their time, knowing that the team was upstairs and able to handle anything that may come up while they were otherwise occupied.

Ianto was feeling quite decadent by the time they had finished dressing. Jack had wanted to go back to bed and play, but Ianto was worn out by their time in the shower downstairs. He batted at Jack's hands and reprimanded him. Jack only laughed and danced out of the way.

Ianto wasn't surprised to find that Jack had left several changes of clothes in amongst his own things. Once Jack realized that he wasn't going to be able to have any more fun, he reluctantly got dressed. It didn't take him long, and he sat on the bed watching Ianto in his preparations. It was fun watching him put on his suit like it was armor, each layer hiding the playful and naughty man that he knew resided underneath. The night had passed all too quickly for him, and he hoped that things stayed quiet enough for them to have more nights down here below.

Ianto looked in the mirror as he made the knot in his tie. He could see Jack sitting on the bed watching him and he held back a smile. Peering closer, he checked to see that he hadn't missed anything while shaving. Jack had been quite the distraction while he was attempting to shave earlier. Not that he was complaining, but it did mean that he had to pay attention afterwards to make sure that it was done properly.

Jack stood up and walked over to where Ianto was standing. He wrapped his arms around Ianto's torso, sliding his hands under his waistcoat.

"Jack," Ianto said in an admonishing tone.

"If you weren't so delectable, it wouldn't be a problem," Jack murmured. He had been about to kiss Ianto but restrained himself. Barely. "Ready?"

"Yes," Ianto said. He looked in the mirror at Jack and smiled before forcing Jack's hands away from him. "Behave, even if it hurts."

"Oh, it does!" Jack laughed as he moved back to give Ianto room. "I guess you want to go upstairs now?"

"Well, unless you're going to have breakfast delivered, we're going to have to go upstairs, aren't we?" Ianto said with a smile. He turned around and looked at Jack before reaching out and adjusting his collar.

"Was I crooked?" Jack said with an amused tone.

"Totally disreputable," Ianto said with a nod. He attempted to hold back a smile but couldn't quite manage to do it. "I do despair."

"Then it's a good thing I have you to make sure I don't shock everyone," Jack said. He winked at Ianto who finally laughed. Jack gestured to Ianto to lead the way back upstairs. Before he left though, Ianto made the bed and left everything as neat as he found it. Neater, if Jack was being totally honest with himself.

By the time they stepped through the archway that led into the Hub's main room, the rest of the staff were already hard at work. Sherry was busy putting out the morning breakfast selection and they could smell that she had made fresh coffee. As they walked across the room, Ianto had to stifle a laugh at Jack's comment about knowing which genes Sherry had inherited from whom. After glancing at Jack, he couldn't hold back and started laughing. They were both chuckling by the time they got to the kitchen area.

"Good morning," Julia said with a smile. She had been drawn by their laughter. "Have a good night?"

"Yeah, the rift was blissfully quiet," Jack said as he grabbed a doughnut and took a bite. Sherry handed him his coffee mug and he saluted her with it. Ianto sat on the sofa and looked at the selection before picking up a muffin. He accepted a cup of coffee from Sherry and smiled up at her.

"Thank you, Sherry," he said with a smile. Sherry blushed and turned away with an embarrassed murmur. Jack grinned behind her back at Ianto. "How are you this morning, Julia?"

"Very well, thank you," Julia said. She accepted a cup from Sherry and sat down next to Ianto. "I hope you got out of this dungeon last night."

"Yes, we did," Ianto said. Jack gave him a wink before slipping off in the direction of his office. "Spent the night out and about." Julia smiled at him. He debated whether to bait her with the news he had also looked (albeit most unwillingly) at flats and decided he would save that for another time. He looked about the room and saw that Rob was busy at work on the case from yesterday. Todd was buried in something at his computer and there was no sign of Gwri. "Kip not in yet?"

"He's off feeding and checking the health of the residents," Julia informed him. She was pleased that he had been able to get Jack out for an evening. While it was obvious they had spent the evening in the Hub, it was a start.


	38. Chapter 38

"So what's everyone else up to?" Ianto asked. Julia seemed to have a good sense of what everyone was up to so she seemed to be a good one to ask.

"Rob is doing some further research into backgrounds and Todd is trying to see if there is anything in the logs which are different from normal rift fluctuations and to see if he can use that to create a warning for us other than the rift going mad. Even if it does, how would we know where the window will open when it does? It's all rather vexing."

"We'll figure it out," Ianto assured her. "We usually do." He finished his coffee and sat back, enjoying the quiet morning.

Julia stood up and put her cup in the sink. "Well, I'm off. I need to do some research of my own."

"Best of luck with that," Ianto said. She nodded to him before heading off towards her desk to work. Ianto watched the rest of the staff at work, observing them from where he sat on the sofa. Rob had an intense look on his face, moving from one screen to another as he made notes. Todd was scrolling through rift logs and then moving over to another display where he was checking lines of code.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Jack had returned, mug in hand. He walked up to Ianto and looked mournfully down at his mug.

"Oh what a sad sight that is," Ianto observed with a smile. Jack nodded sadly.

"Can you fix this?" He turned the mug upside down, showing that it was empty. Ianto laughed softly and stood up.

"I suppose I will have to, won't I?" Ianto said as he took the mug away from Jack and headed into the kitchenette. He made them both another cup and set Jack's down on the counter for him before taking his own. Jack smiled appreciatively at him before picking his up and drinking. He smacked his lips together in satisfaction.

"So, what are you up to today?" Jack asked.

"I thought I might go topside and talk to Sherry for a bit," Ianto said. Jack nodded. He was expecting something like that after their conversation the night before. "You?"

"I'm going back to my puzzle," Jack said. Ianto smiled at him. "I think if I can use it as a distraction from this other issue, something just might float to the surface. I feel like there's an important detail that I'm forgetting, and the more I try to think of what it is, the more it skitters away somewhere else. So a little puzzle solving might prove to be a good distraction for a couple of hours.

"You know where to find me if you need me." Jack saluted him with his mug and headed off towards his Kralyro puzzle.

"Have fun," Ianto said. He made a cup of coffee for Sherry to bring upstairs with him. Carrying both that and his own out the door, he took the lift up to the office level. He hit the release button with his elbow and ducked through the opening. Sherry looked up from where she was reading a magazine.

"Hi there," Ianto said as he entered the room. "Thought you might want some coffee."

"Oh thank you," she said, gratefully accepting the mug. She pulled a stool over so he could sit. "You didn't have to!"

"I know," Ianto said as he sat down. "I wanted to. I know how thankless this job up here can be." He smiled at her. "No one understands why it's necessary."

"True," she said. "I think the rest think Jack just brought me in to fill the empty office and they don't see the point." Ianto could see that her lack of self confidence showed through here. He wondered if he was ever that young and unsure of himself.

"I used to do this job when I first started here," Ianto told her. She gave him a wide eyed look. "The place was a disaster. It was just a front in those days, so no one bothered. Outdated materials and dust all over the place." Ianto looked around the gleaming office. "It's so different now."

"Do you think?" Sherry asked as she looked around the room. "Is that a good thing?"

"Yes, I think it is," Ianto said. "Do you like working here?" Sherry nodded and he smiled. "This place can be pretty strange sometimes."

"I'm used to strange," she said with a little laugh. Ianto smiled at her. Her laugh was musical and one couldn't help but to smile when she did it. She glanced at him and then back down at her hands which were wrapped around the mug. "It doesn't bother me too much."

"Well, that's something, Ianto said. He rested a foot on one of the rungs of the stool and wrapped his arm around his knee. "Because you never know what you may find around here."

"Like waking up far into the future?" She asked. She looked up at him and he nodded. "Is this terribly strange for you?" Ianto considered her question for a moment.

"No more than usual," he said lightly. "I've gotten used to odd things happening in my time here. I do miss my family, though." She nodded and looked down. "But Jack took care of them for me."

"Jack's good that way," Sherry said. "Always watching out for people. He's sort of an uncle of mine," she confided. Ianto smiled at her admission.

"Oh? " He didn't want to volunteer how much he knew just in case she wanted to tell him herself.

"Yeah, a long time friend of the family," she said. "He's been very good to me."

The secret door opened up and Rob came through the gap. "Hi."

"Hello Rob," Ianto said and Sherry smiled at him. "Headed out?"

"Yeah, wanted to go look around the Assembly again," Rob said. He stopped and fished out his keys from his trouser pocket.

"Need some help?" Ianto asked. Rob shook his head. "I'd be happy to come with you if you want."

"No, I'll be fine," Rob assured him. "I promised Jack I'd keep my link on, so if anything pops up you can give me a shout. I'll see you guys later." With another wave he headed out the door, passing a couple of tourists on their way in. Ianto got up and stood back to let Sherry handle them. It was easy to see that when she spoke about something she was comfortable with, such as this tourist information, she was much more self assured. She gave them the info they needed and sent them on their way.

"I guess I should go back downstairs," Ianto mused. "Might be some research I can do that can help."

"This thing," Sherry said as he turned to go. "It sounds really bad, doesn't it?"

"Yes," Ianto said. He knew that the team tended to shelter Sherry, but he also felt that they had to be honest with her. He of all people knew that a shy exterior could hide a lot. "It's bad."

"Can you stop it?" She asked.

"We're going to try, which is all we can do." Ianto said with a nod. "We'll figure out something."

"Good," Sherry said as she turned away. "Because something tells me it's going to get worse before it gets better."

Ianto went back down to the Hub, troubled by her comment. He wasn't sure if it was just a comment or whether she might have some foreknowledge of what was to come. He was frowning slightly as he came back down the lift and headed back through the door into the Hub's main room. Jack could be seen walking around his puzzle, and the others were working on other things. Ianto went over to Rob's empty console and logged in. Soon he was sifting through news reports which featured any of the individuals who were on the list from their discussion the evening before. Perhaps somewhere there he could find something to point him towards the intended target.


	39. Chapter 39

Sometime later the rift alarm went off. Todd brought the information up on yet another monitor in front of him. Jack walked over to where Todd was seated and looked over his shoulder. Ianto stayed where he was; engrossed in the multiple trails he was following.

"What do we have?" Jack asked, stifling a yawn. Todd was pulling up an overlay map to locate the point of disturbance.

"Trouble at a primary school," Todd said. He switched to the CCTV cameras and they could see teachers ushering their students out onto the pavement. On one of the cameras they could see a plume of smoke coming out of a window. Jack leaned in and peered, trying to see detail.

"Todd, check the school and make sure none of our targets attend there," he said, his eyes not leaving the screen. He could hear typing next to him as Todd pulled up the school records. Ianto tied into the EMU system and monitored the emergency signals as they waited for more information.

"No, none of the children go to that school," Todd confirmed and Jack let out a sigh. He really needed some time before there was another attack. And that was the one thing he didn't have control of at the moment. He turned to where Ianto was staring at the displays at Rob's console. "What do you have?"

"Reports from the Emergency Management Unit logs are that something suddenly appeared in a chemistry lab," Ianto said, his eyes scanning the reports. He reached down and fitted his earpiece on and tied into the live feed from workers at the scene. Jack ordered Kip and Julia over to check it out and called Rob to divert him over to the scene. They needed to see what was in that school that had caused the disturbance.

"You're not coming?" Julia asked as she hurried over from the OR, a heavy bag thumping against her hip. Jack shook his head.

"I think this is something small," he said as he continued to scan the changing shots on Todd's computer screens. "Rob is closer, anyhow. Between you, the three of you can handle anything that's there. I just want to make sure that if something got injured that you are there to sedate them and bring them back here." He gave Julia a reassuring smile.

Julia nodded briskly and headed towards the door, Gwri a few steps behind. Jack glanced over to where Ianto was writing something down as he listened to the different reports.

"Rob," Ianto said after touching his earpiece again. "Ianto here."

"Go ahead," Rob said. He was working his way across town from where he had been headed. "What do you have?"

"I've been monitoring the EMU channels and it looks like something came through the rift about fifteen minutes ago and landed right in the middle of a chemistry laboratory. That startled the instructor and she dropped a reagent in an organic synthesis experiment while do a demonstration and that caused the blast. From the reports, it looks like a large artifact of some kind."

"Lovely," Rob muttered. "Anyone injured?"

"Minor injuries to the instructor but the class was far enough back that it looks like none of the students were hurt, thankfully," Ianto responded. "No cameras in the classroom, so once you get there, please give us a feed so we can check it out."

"Will do," Rob replied. "I'm almost there. Should radio back in about ten minutes." Rob signed off and Ianto went back to his notes, jotting something down that Jack couldn't see from where he was standing. Jack paced restlessly between Ianto and Todd, occasionally looking over their shoulders as they worked.

"Jack," Julia called in. "We're stuck in traffic. The blast at the school has everything re-routed and some officious oaf won't let us through."

"I'll handle it," Rob interjected on the com. They could hear him using his mobile to liaise with the police headquarters. Ianto raised an eyebrow at Jack as they listened in. Jack just grinned at him. He loved when the group acted like a well oiled machine. He crossed his arms and leaned back against a chair. A few moments later Rob gave Julia the go ahead and they were able to get through the roadblock to the school.

"Jack, I'm here," Rob reported. "Heading inside now and I have the portable camera with me. Once I get it hooked up, I'll dial it in for you."

"Thank you, Robert," Jack said. He tapped Todd on the shoulder who nodded and typed in something into a browser window. Ianto sat back on his stool and watched as a few minutes later an image flickered on Todd's screen. "It's a bit dark, Rob."

"Yeah, need to get power turned back on in here. Hold on a sec," Rob said. A minute later the image flared as lights were turned on. Ianto got up and stood next to Jack as Rob maneuvered the camera over to the object in the middle of the lab. They could see the area where the chemicals had been dropped, as there was a large black spot on the floor, along with damaged furniture nearby where the chemical reaction had blown outwards.

"Well, well, will you look at that?" Jack mused as he peered closer.

"You recognize it?" Rob asked.

"Jack, what are the chances of that showing up today?" Ianto asked. Todd gave him an odd look. He was used to his boss making cryptic comments about artifacts, but to have Ianto recognize it as well was rather disturbing. He couldn't make heads or tails out of it.

"Coincidence?" Jack asked. Ianto shook his head dubiously.

"Doubtful," Ianto commented. "Rob, I'd hazard a guess that it's too big for the UAV. Am I correct?" They could see Rob walking around the artifact.

"No, I think I can make it fit." He tried to lift it and grunted. "Damn heavy, though."

"It would be, wouldn't it?" Ianto mused. "Can you scan it for us, please?" He pulled up Rob's portable scanner and started looking at the incoming information. "Careful Rob, I'm receiving a lot of heavy metals in it, particularly Vanadium. It also has a makeup of Platinum, Ruthenium and Tantalum."

"That makes sense," Jack said as he peered over Ianto's shoulder. "It is part of a ship, after all." Ianto glanced at him and turned back to the display. Jack then made plans to bring the anti-grav units out to the school and took Todd's car to do that. "Be back in a bit."

"Be careful!" Ianto shouted after him. Todd chuckled and Ianto shot him a glance. "Yes, I know. Rather stupid comment, but it is habit." He grinned at the computer tech and went back to observing the information that the scanner had sent him. He was able to come up with a rough schematic of shape and size. That gave him an idea and he opened another window and started picking up information from the archives. Todd had to crane his neck from where he was sitting at his own console.

"Got an idea?" He asked. Ianto nodded. "Cool."

"Yes, and Jack is going to hate it," he murmured to himself and then grinned. He continued to gather information, both men working on their projects while the others were working at the school. Ianto looked up briefly when he saw that Jack had arrived and watched as the two men fitted the device with the anti-gravity support units on the artifact before lifting it out a window and into the back of the UAV. It was convenient that the window had been blown out by the blast, giving them enough room to maneuver. Once they were done Rob got into the UAV while Jack followed him in Todd's car. Together, they headed back towards the Hub.


	40. Chapter 40

Julia and Gwri arrived back at the Hub, armed with lunch. Todd nearly fell over himself to get to them, and Sherry had to bat his hands away as she was setting things out on the table near the kitchen. She called Ianto several times to come over, but he was so absorbed in what he was doing that he didn't answer her. She gave a sigh of exasperation before putting together a plate for him and bringing it to the console where he was working. He nodded absently when Sherry nudged him, pausing only to automatically pick up the mug of coffee she placed near his elbow.

"Men!" She said with an annoyed sigh. Julia gave her a sympathetic glance before returning her gaze to the man in question. After a moment she got up went to his side and plucked the mug out of his hand.

"What?" That got his attention.

"Stop for lunch, Ianto." Julia said firmly. He opened his mouth to protest and she shook her head. "Work can wait." She picked up the plate he had yet to touch and indicated the table with her chin. He had a glazed look in his eyes from concentrating on whatever it was that had him so preoccupied. "Break time."

Ianto saw from the look in her eyes that she was determined to win this battle, so he reluctantly nodded and pushed back away from the desk and followed her over to the table. Todd grinned. Not many people could stop Julia when she was determined, and Ianto proved no exception to that rule. Ianto took the plate from her as he sat down in an empty seat. He was starting to get a headache from staring at the screen and he rolled his head back and forth on his shoulders trying to get the strain out of his muscles. Julia went back to eating, but kept a watchful eye on him.

Gwri and Todd were chatting back and forth while Ianto and Sherry were quiet. Julia eventually moved her chair closer to Ianto and nudged his elbow. He looked up from his plate and smiled. "Hello."

"You seem rather preoccupied," she observed. He shrugged. "Todd says you have an idea about our artifact."

"Mmm," Ianto said before taking a bite of his sandwich. She raised her eyebrow, waiting for an explanation from him. He smiled. "Let's just say that it's an incredible coincidence to me that another piece of Kralyro tech should come through the rift right now." She turned to look at the pile of junk off in Jack's playroom and back at him.

"You think there's a connection?" She asked curiously. He nodded.

"It makes one wonder whether the random drops have been just that over the years, or whether it's been related to timeswarms we didn't know were occurring," he said. He picked up his coffee and took a sip before continuing. "Even if that didn't have anything to do in the past with a swarm happening, the fact that so much has come through in such a short period of time makes me suspicious. Perhaps the swarm window has jostled other things in the rift, allowing them to pass through more easily. After all, we are in an unstable area, time and space-wise. It would stand to reason that someone playing with timelines would cause a disruption elsewhere."

She glanced back over to the playroom before gazing back at Ianto. "Do you think that perhaps this device of Jack's may be able to help us?"

"It's a possibility," he admitted. "More like a wild hope. We need some kind of leverage, and if Jack's puzzle provides the answer, I would be happy. "He also glanced over at the mess in the other room before turning back to her. "It's a better idea than building an alien toilet."

Todd grinned. "That much is certain."

"I feel like we're under time pressure here as well," Ianto continued. "Almost as if we have the answer to the swarm staring us in the face and we're just missing it in the amount of data we have coming in."

Julia looked thoughtful as she processed his comment. She was a big one for following hunches, as it had served her well in the past. "So, this artifact that Rob and Jack are bringing in could very well help us?"

"One can always hope," Ianto said with a smile. "Of course, we need to figure out how it goes together. That was what I was working on." Julia nodded. Ianto finished off his sandwich and toyed with the last of the crust while he thought. He glanced at her and smiled.

"What?" She asked. Todd had gone back to his desk, taking some biscuits with him to munch on for dessert. Gwri had taken their field supplies back to the OR to sort and Sherry was bustling about the kitchen, making a fresh pot of coffee for when Jack and Rob returned.

"I thought you might be delighted to know that Jack and I spent some time looking at flat listings last night," he said with a quiet smile. He could see that she was indeed quite pleased by the news.

"Did you see anything you liked?" She asked. She was trying to be casual and not push them too much, but if Ianto could get Jack out of the Hub, she thought it would do him a world of good. Sometimes he got so caught up in this otherworldly stuff that he forgot to have a life of his own.

"Unfortunately, no," Ianto said with a sigh. "But that was only one agent. There are plenty more to choose from." He took a biscuit from the tray in front of them and took a bite out of it.

"It's a start then," she said. "Jack spends too much time cooped up here that I think we're going to find mould growing on him at some point."

Ianto burst out laughing as Rob and Jack came through one of the archways from the car park, alternately pushing and pulling the artifact over to the playroom. Jack glanced over at the noise and grinned at Ianto.

"Are you equating Jack to a mushroom?" Ianto said with a grin. Julia shrugged, her thin shoulders giving the move an elegant look. Ianto turned to watch Jack speculatively as Rob carefully lowered the new piece of Kralyro tech to the floor. "You know, you just may have made your point."

"It's about time," Julia muttered as the two men came over, having smelled the food. She could hear one of their stomachs growling loudly and she shook her head.

"Oh, I could eat a horse," Jack said as he rubbed his hands together. Rob nodded and smiled at Sherry who brought two steaming cups of coffee over to them.

"No horsemeat here," she said, wrinkling her nose at the thought. "Just sandwiches."

"That will have to do," Rob said as he grabbed several and dragged them over to a plate. He upended the bag of crisps on top of the sandwiches before handing the mostly empty bag over to Jack. He peered inside and stared pathetically at it until Sherry added a second bag to the table.

"Ah, my lifesaver," he said as he took a seat next to Ianto. He left the crumbs in the first bag and opened the second, pouring some onto Ianto's plate as well as his own. Ianto shook his head.

"I didn't want any crisps," he said.

"Who said they're for you?" Jack replied with a grin. Ianto rolled his eyes before nodding to Sherry who had come over with the coffee pot for a refill. "Thank you," he said to her.

"You're welcome," she ducked her head down shyly and turned away quickly. Ianto closed his eyes and sighed. He may have to say something to her before she began to hero worship him. There was something just so wrong about that thought and he shook his head to rid himself of the idea.

"So," Jack said around a mouthful of sandwich. "What's your idea?"

"I refuse to discuss anything while you are eating," Ianto said. Jack tried pouting, but wasn't able to do so around the half sandwich he had crammed into his mouth. Ianto looked away and caught Julia's gaze. They shared an unspoken moment of despair for their boss before Rob started talking about the artifact. He described some writing which was on one side, almost as if it were an instruction panel.

"Really?" Ianto asked, intrigued. "I wonder if the translation program would be able to do something with it."

"What translation program?" Rob asked.

"Ours," Jack mumbled. He had to chew a few times so he could swallow enough to be understood. "I actually had Todd see if he could add anything to Tosh's original program. It works better with visual images now."

Ianto finished off his coffee. "Let's see if it can tell us anything then. " He got up and went over to where Todd was working. After talking for a few moments, Todd picked up something under his console and walked over to where the new artifact was resting, Ianto following closely behind him. Todd scanned the panel several times before heading back to his console and bringing up a program. Connecting the device to the console, he uploaded the images and got working on the translation. Ianto remained at the device, staring at it closely. He walked back over to the printer, pulled out several documents from the tray and walked back to the playroom.

Jack spun around while he was eating and watched closely. He recognized that single minded look on Ianto's face. Ianto had an idea. Jack grinned as he leaned back against the table. Ianto glanced down at the documents in his hands, his long fingers stroking the smooth surface lightly. They didn't print on paper anymore, but a rugged plastic type substance that resisted damage that could be recycled easily and reused. Ianto stalked around the different boxes, peering inside each one before consulting the printouts in his hand.

Jack finished his lunch and got up from the table, downing the last of his coffee. He shocked Sherry when he refused a second cup. Jack was focused on finding out what Ianto was up to. He circled past the boxes until he could lean on one and watch Ianto.

"I feel you staring at me," Ianto said. His back was to Jack at the moment and he could almost feel Jack's gaze boring into him. "Don't you know a watched pot never boils?"

"Ianto, you're playing with my puzzle," Jack said with a grin. He cocked his hip to one side and crossed one ankle over the other. "How can I not be intrigued?"

"I'm not playing, I'm observing." Ianto informed him. Jack nodded sagely.

"And what do you observe, Mr. Jones?" Jack said. He craned his neck but couldn't see what was on the documents in Ianto's hand.

"Shapes," Ianto said. Jack cocked his head to one side as Ianto stared into an open box. "Aha."

Jack watched as he picked up a long device which had wires sticking out of it. He brought it over to the new piece and walked about it for a moment before placing the long piece against it. They heard something click and Ianto stepped back. Jack frowned at the ease in which he was able to find and attach a piece so quickly.

"How did you do that?" He asked. Ianto shrugged and turned to the large piece which dominated the room. He went to another box, rummaged through it and found a piece that had a half circle connected to a rod. He moved over to the large piece and looked down at the document in his hand before crouching down and connecting it with a snap. Jack blinked.

The rift alarm went off and everyone looked over to Todd's console. He pulled up a window and looked at the report.

"Something's coming in around Sevenoaks Park, Pernarth in about 10 minutes," he announced. "At least, according to the predictor."

"I don't like that," Jack muttered before walking over to where Todd was standing. "This is getting too frequent for my liking." He called to Rob and together the two headed back out, this time taking the UAV instead of two vehicles.

Ianto had wandered over to the display and sighed. Todd glanced over at him. "Two in one day isn't a good sign, is it?"

"No," Ianto said in a low voice. "It isn't. Keep an eye out for any other disturbances. I remember Tosh used to say that she got a feeling when it was going to act up, it was like currents swirling about." Todd looked intrigued by his comment and pulled up the rift tracker, looking at the algorithms to compare them to past disturbances. Ianto left him at it and went back to the Kralyro puzzle. He carefully removed his jacket and hung it from a nearby post before rolling up his sleeves to continue.


	41. Chapter 41

A short time later, Jack called in via com to say that they had retrieved another artifact. Thankfully, this time it was just the typical flotsam. But from his tone he was still very suspicious and cautioned Todd to keep an eagle eye on everything.

"The calm before the storm?" Julia mused. Gwri shrugged and went back to a medical journal he was reading. Ianto circled around Jack's puzzle, adding a piece here and there before carefully moving the new piece so that it aligned with the other large piece. There was an audible click as they came together.

"Damn," Jack said. He and Rob had returned a few moments ago, but Ianto had been so absorbed in what he was doing that he hadn't noticed. At Jack's exclamation he looked up. He wasn't sure, but he thought Jack might be pouting. He looked down and noticed that in the time Jack had been gone he had attached six separate pieces into the main section. "How'd you do that?"

"I had an epiphany," Ianto said. Jack walked over to look at the printouts in his hands. He had printed out the isometric shape of each artifact from the archives. Each shape was outlined without detail. Jack nodded. Looking at the pieces that way, it was a lot easier than trying to match it up visually.

"Good thinking," he said, patting Ianto on the shoulder. He took the pages out of Ianto's hand and started looking through the boxes. Ianto stood and watched him. He got the definite impression that Jack had taken over. Chuckling softly to himself he emptied one of the crates out and carefully laid out the items so that they would be easier to identify. Jack was already picking up one he had put down only a minute before. Ianto worked steady, creating a staging area for parts that Jack could work from easily.

Ianto wasn't sure how much time had passed when Sherry came down and took dinner orders. He blinked out of the fog of concentration and smiled at her. "Whatever you get for the others is fine with me," he said. He looked back down at the object in his hands and turned it over; trying to figure out if it had a top. Deciding it didn't, he placed it on the floor for Jack to pick up at some point.

Sherry nodded and moved away. Ianto had already gone back to what he was doing and didn't notice. Julia watched him from where she was sitting and frowned. She glanced about and saw the whole team was absorbed in different tasks that they were doing. Tapping the folder she had been perusing against her lip, she nodded to herself before jotting down a note on a pad at her console.

Dinner time came and went, with the team all working on their individual projects and so consumed by their work that they didn't touch the food waiting for them. Julia finally announced that she was going to leave for the evening and Jack nodded to her and wished her a good evening. Ianto looked up from where he was seated at a table with a laptop. He had been trying to compare a scan of the writing from the artifact with their archives, looking to see if there was something there that might help them. He had some blank document paper with him for notes, which he jotted down as he perused the massive archive database.

"You're off then?" Ianto asked as she walked over. Julia glanced down at Ianto's notes, his precise handwriting scrawling across multiple pages.

"Yes. I also think that we all need a break this evening." She surveyed the room and saw that Todd was looking rather glassy-eyed. He had been at his computer screens all day. Rob was similarly focused on whatever it was that had absorbed his attention. Even Gwri was pecking away at his computer console on something. She clapped her hands to get everyone's attention and they all looked up at her with dazed expressions. "That's it, we're stopping this evening."

"We are?" Jack asked from somewhere behind her. She glanced over to see he had a rather amused expression on his face. She nodded to him. "Why's that?"

"Doctor's orders," she announced. "I do believe we are rather amiss at having one of our outings. Enough of staying in this cavern where we don't even know what time it is. In my opinion we are spinning our wheels and need a break so we can gain a fresh perspective for tomorrow." Jack crossed his arms and looked at her with a grin. "That includes you, Captain."

"Uh oh," Gwri said. "Now we know she's serious." Rob nodded solemnly and began shutting down his system. Ianto watched as each of the other team members started to stop what they were doing. He glanced at Jack.

"All right, let's go out," Jack agreed. He put down the piece he had been working on and stretched. "We need a break. I think you're right, Jules."

"Of course I'm right," Julia said with a smile. "We've had this conversation before." Jack's grin grew broader and Ianto looked from one to the other as he walked over to them.

"And what conversation is that?" He asked, idly brushing away imaginary lint from his trousers.

"That I'm always right," Julia said as she turned towards Ianto. "Jack is occasionally allowed to be right." Ianto looked over to see Jack's reaction to this declaration and was surprised to see Jack nod.

"Well, that's a first," Ianto muttered. "I've been trying to tell him that for years and he never listened to me." He walked away from them as Jack laughed. Going back to where he had been working, he wrote down one last note as a placeholder before reaching for his jacket. A hand on his arm stopped him. Turning, he saw Julia standing next to him. "Yes?"

"Leave it," she said with a nod towards the jacket in his hands. "Time to unwind and be casual." Ianto considered her comment and nodded amiably. He left the jacket and also removed his tie, opening his collar. He didn't notice Jack watching him, but Julia did. She smiled as she saw Jack lick his lips.

Todd helped Sherry put all of the untouched food away so they could have it the following day. Rob set the alarms and they headed out together. The six of them crowded into the lift, and Sherry glanced away as she saw Jack pull Ianto against him, using the tight quarters as an excuse to hold him close for the short ride up to the centre. She felt that they probably didn't have enough privacy as it was.

They spilled out of the lift and the closed office of the Tourist Centre, each of the tossing out suggestions where to go for the evening. Todd looked at Ianto, who was standing a little separated from the group and was watching them with a smile on his face.

"What did your team do for R&R?" He asked Ianto.

"There was usually a pub somewhere we would frequent when we took a break," Ianto said. Jack nodded in agreement and smiled.

"Do you know the old White Hart is still around?" Jack said. Ianto gave him a smile which widened as he met Jack's eyes. "Fancy a trip down memory lane?" At Ianto's nod, Jack started walking, telling everyone to follow. Ianto quickly caught up, the two men knowing the way. The rest of the group followed, chattering about anything but work as they walked. They soon arrived at the pub and Jack opened the door to let everyone inside before following himself.


	42. Chapter 42

Ianto had snagged an empty table large enough for the group at the back of the small pub. Rob went straight for the bar and was ordering drinks for everyone. The table had a bench on one side and chairs on the other. Ianto sat at the end of the bench and shifted over to make room for Jack. The barman brought their lagers over and Jack told them to order food as well.

"When did they start serving food here?" Ianto asked Jack. Jack thought about it and shrugged. Ianto looked around. The place hadn't changed from what Ianto could tell, other than the fact that they now sold food if people wanted it. He didn't question it, but drank his lager. He closed his eyes appreciatively; the smooth taste had that nutty flavor that he remembered.

"Good?" Jack asked in an amused voice. The look of bliss on Ianto's face told the story as the other man nodded. Jack had a pint in front of him as well, which surprised Ianto. But he drank sparingly from it, also having a large glass of water as well. They ordered and sat back.

"Remember the rules, children," Julia said with a smile. They nodded and Ianto raised an eyebrow, which she noticed as she looked around the table. "The rules are simple, Ianto. Enjoy yourself and no talk of work." He grinned at her.

"I think I can remember that easily enough," he said. He raised his glass to her in a salute. The rest of the team were talking about different things, sports mostly. He had Gwri beside him and decided that perhaps they should get to know each other a bit better. "So Kip, where do you live?"

"Not too far from here, actually," Gwri said. "I've a flat over in Splott." Ianto grinned at him. "What?"

"Nothing. Just brought back some memories," Ianto said with a laugh. "Do you like it over there?"

"It's okay," Gwri said with a shrug. "As good as any other place. Are you looking?"

"Yes," Ianto said, surprising himself. "I think it's a good idea to have a place to get away from work." Gwri took a sip of his lager and nodded. "So I'm in the market to find someplace."

"Will that be for just you, or for the two of you?" Gwri asked him with a nod in Jack's direction. Ianto shrugged.

"Jack never strays too far from the Hub, but it can be both if he wants," Ianto replied. He looked down at his pint and picked it up. "My assumption is for myself, mainly." Gwri nodded.

Sherry was listening in on their conversation from across the table and she reached out a hand to touch Ianto's wrist. He turned and smiled at her.

"You might want to try over in my area," she said. He had to lean to hear her; she was speaking so softly that her words were getting lost in the din of the general conversation at the table. "I'm on Hunter St." Ianto thought about where she was and nodded. That would be convenient.

"Do you like it?" He asked her and she smiled and nodded. "I'll have to come by and see it sometime then," he said with a smile of his own. The rest of the group had been listening in, and each of them suggested areas where they lived. Julia was smiling at Ianto. It was obvious that he had taken her words to heart and was taking their suggestions seriously. She glanced over at Jack and saw him smiling. His arm was stretched out along the back of the bench behind Ianto, and it was the most relaxed she had seen him in a long time. His gaze flitted across his team as they spoke until he met her eyes with his own. His smile broadened into a grin and he raised his pint to her in a silent toast before taking a sip. She felt hopeful that some progress had been made.

Their food arrived in short order and the conversation died as everyone concentrated on their food. Ianto dug into his steak and pie, realizing now that they stopped working how hungry he had been without knowing it. The conversation when it started up again turned towards sports, with Todd and Rob arguing who was the best player on the local teams. Ianto slanted a glance at Jack. Sports were usually not his thing. Jack grinned at him.

"Ianto, are you into sports?" Rob asked. Ianto nodded.

"When I have the time. Used to play the odd game out with mates when I was at uni," he said easily. Jack made a comment about how handy he was with a hockey stick and Ianto laughed outright at the comment. Rob had a feeling he was missing part of the conversation, but shrugged it off. There was probably a lot with those men that none of them would ever know.

They didn't make a late night of it, but once they finished their meals and drinks they had one last round before heading out. Julia left them first, since her house was closest. She bid them a good evening and headed off home. Once she left the rest felt a little easier about discussing Torchwood related stuff as they made their way back towards the Hub. They made their way past Hunter St to drop off Sherry before swinging back towards the quay.

"Ianto?" Todd was walking near him and he turned to the young computer genius and smiled. "I was wondering…"

"About?" Ianto asked. He walked with his hands in his pockets, the air a little chilly from the breeze off the water. Todd looked down and back up again, a curious look on his face.

"Jack's told us stories in the past about Toshiko, but I was wondering if you could tell me more about her," he said. Ianto saw there was an obvious hero worship in the young man and he smiled.

"What would you like to know?" Ianto asked. The rest of the group had quieted down and were listening to their conversation. Jack didn't say anything, but walked along beside Ianto, quiet.

"I don't know," Todd admitted. "I still don't understand a lot of stuff she left behind, and from the looks of it, neither did some of my predecessors. She was obviously ahead of her time in a lot of ways. But what was she like as a person?"

Ianto smiled as he thought about his dear friend. "Amazing," he said simply. "Brilliant, yes, but with one of the biggest hearts you'd ever find. From the first time we met, we hit it off like a house on fire. Liked the same movies, had the same interests in odd things," Ianto grinned at Jack who smiled back at him. "Same books, that sort of thing. She genuinely cared about everything, and tried to understand and make sense out of stuff that no one else could figure out.

"You know that dragon on the wall in the Hub?" He asked. Todd nodded. "She painted that. She could do stuff like that. Amazing, really. And when it came to computers, there wasn't a thing about one that she didn't know or couldn't figure out."

"I would have liked to have met her," Todd said. Ianto caught the wistful tone in his voice.

"I think she would have liked you a lot, Todd," Ianto said. "You two would have been talking circles around the rest of us, no doubt." Todd grinned at the idea. "Remind me tomorrow and I'll see if I can dig up some of the old footage we have of her."

"Thanks, Ianto. I know it might be hard talking about your friends, so if you don't want to, that's okay," Todd said. Ianto shook his head.

"I don't mind at all, Todd. That's how I can keep them alive, by remembering the wonderful people they were." Ianto said and Todd nodded at him. They had reached the quay by this point.

"I'm off then," Todd said. He gave them a wave and broke off towards home, heading east. The others waved to him as he left.

"I'm taking watch this evening," Rob announced. He looked at Gwri who nodded amiably. "Jack and Ianto, you two have the night off."

"You don't need to do that, Rob," Jack said. "I live here, so it's not like I have anywhere else to go. I'll take watch. No?" He saw that Rob was shaking his head.

"Jack, you need a break." Rob turned and looked at Ianto as well. "You both do."

"What's this?" Jack said with a puzzled expression. "Let's gang up on Jack week? First Julia, now you. Rob, I've been doing this for more years than you have been on this earth."

"And that's exactly why I'm telling you that you don't have to work this evening," Rob said reasonably. "Take the night off, Jack." He crossed his arms. "Go find someplace else to haunt this evening." With that, he turned with a nod to Gwri and headed off towards the entrance. "Coming, Kip?" Gwri looked from Rob's retreating back to where Jack was standing with his mouth open. Shrugging, he turned and followed his team mate, leaving Jack and Ianto behind.

"Well, if that just doesn't beat everything," Jack said as he watched the two men heading away. He looked at Ianto. "A mutiny. Now what are we supposed to do?"


	43. Chapter 43

"Find a hotel room?" Ianto asked, his voice laced with amusement. "Or sneak in the back way and kick them out?" Jack looked sorely tempted by the latter suggestion and Ianto chuckled. "Maybe they have a point. Maybe we are so cooped up down in the Hub that it is making us stale."

"Do you really think that?" Jack asked. Ianto shrugged. Jack put his hands on his hips and thought about it for a moment. "All right, Rob wins. Let's take the night off."

Ianto nodded. "And do what, exactly?" He looked around the empty Plass before turning back to Jack. Jack looked blank for a moment as he thought. Slowly, his expression changed and he began smiling.

"I know the perfect place," Jack said with a grin. "Come with me." He started striding off in the direction of the street, leaving Ianto to play catch up with him. Ianto eventually did, about a block from the Plass. He could see that Jack was on a mission of some kind, so said nothing as Jack led the way further into the city and away from the Bay.

"Hmmm, this reminds me of Weevil hunting," Ianto said as they strolled along together. Jack glanced at him and chuckled. "You're not thinking of bunking down in a sewer somewhere, are you Jack?"

"And ruin my coat?" Jack said with a laugh. "I know better than to even suggest that. Though there was that time we were chasing that Weevil through Ely..."

"Oh don't you start," Ianto retorted. He grinned at Jack. That chase had been through a set of abandoned Council flats, and had ended with Ianto falling through the floor into some sewage water in the room below. Jack had heard about it for weeks as Ianto had claimed he would be forever scarred by the experience.

They took a turn and were along a series of large buildings that Ianto assumed were warehouses of some sort. He noted that they didn't look all the different in design from ones he would have seen back years ago. "Good to know that some architecture doesn't change," he noted. Jack looked over his shoulder and grinned. He then beckoned down an alley and Ianto followed him. Jack used his vortex manipulator to unlock the door. Ianto heard the faint click before Jack opened the door and gestured for Ianto to enter.

Ianto walked through the door and found that they had entered a hallway. Jack closed the door and locked it before moving past Ianto to lead the way. Curious, Ianto followed. As they walked down the empty corridor he could hear faint sounds coming from behind closed doors. Jack turned a corner and started climbing a set of stairs. After a moment's pause, Ianto went up after him.

Soon they were on what must be the top floor, Ianto thought. He could see dim light coming through the window from the street below. There were no sounds up here on the upper floor so he assumed it was empty. Jack walked to the end of the hall and touched his wrist strap again. Opening the door in front of them, he stood in the entryway and gestured for Ianto to enter.

Ianto walked into the dim interior and stopped. "So where are we?" He asked Jack. Jack reached behind him and opened a panel on the wall. Typing into a keypad, he activated some system, because Ianto felt the slight vibration as something powered up. A moment later the lights came on and Ianto looked at the room in amazement.

They were in a loft flat which from this height looked out onto the Bay. It was tastefully furnished with cherry wood furniture. A sofa and a chaise lounge were near a wall with a large fireplace which took up most of the wall at one end. Hardwood beams slanted overhead into the roof up above. The far wall was glass that ran the whole length of the flat on one side. Close to that glass wall stood the largest bed Ianto had ever seen. He turned to look at Jack in amazement.

"This is yours?" He asked and Jack nodded. Ianto blinked. "When did you get this?" He turned in a circle, his hands on his hips as he surveyed the open plan. On a second look, he saw some appliances in the shadowy corner.

"Torchwood has owned this building for years," Jack said. He looked a bit uncomfortable and Ianto tried to place why that might be. He figured he'd find out sooner or later, so started walking about the space, his heels clicking against the hardwood floor as he strolled over to the windows.

"So why go through that farce with Julia?" Ianto asked. He was puzzled by the fact that Jack already had a flat outside of the Hub but never seemed to use it. "Let her know you have a place and she'll get off your back."

"Well, it wasn't exactly for me," Jack said. Ianto could see his reflection in the glass and swore he had just scuffed his foot. Jack waited for a moment when Ianto didn't make a response Jack walked over to where he was standing. Ianto could see him in the window and waited. "I thought you might like it."

"Me?" Ianto wasn't really surprised. He did wonder, however, what that whole thing of looking at the estate agent's listings was all about, though. Maybe it was that Jack couldn't figure how to talk about it and wanted to use that as a reference first. A moment later, Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto's waist.

"Look at the view," Jack said as he rested his chin on Ianto's shoulder. Ianto let him distract him and he looked across the rooftops. In the distance he could see the Millennium Dome and the top of the water tower. "Do you know where this is?"

"East, apparently," Ianto said. Jack chuckled.

"That, but what else?" He asked. Ianto shrugged. "This is the same warehouse, well, relatively since it was been rebuilt once, where we found Myfanwy."

"Is it really?" Ianto asked in surprise. He hadn't been paying as close attention while following Jack or he would have made the connection. Though even still, the finished interior had thrown him off. "So you bought it for nostalgia reasons?"

"That and it was a good investment," Jack said. "I had it finished off and converted it to rental units. It makes for a nice investment for Torchwood and I'm able to help people who need some affordable housing in the city. Reserving the top floor, of course, for Torchwood executive use."

"Of course," Ianto murmured. "So why didn't you mention it before this?"

"Honestly? I forgot about it," Jack said with a chuckle. "Plus, I didn't want you to feel obligated to take the place if you don't want to. But since we effectively got kicked out tonight, and you seem to be seriously considering getting a flat, it occurred to me that we could give it a trial run and you could see how you like it."

"We?" Ianto asked with a smile. "Are you proposing that we shack up together?" He was watching Jack's expression in the window and could see a slow smile growing on his face.

"Interested?" Jack asked in a low voice.

"Well, this is rather sudden," Ianto said teasingly. "It's not like we've known each other that long..."

Jack snorted. "One hundred and twenty eight years isn't good enough?" He asked. He lifted his head up and turned to look at Ianto's face. Ianto kept his gaze focused out on the cityscape in front of him.

"I was asleep for most of that," Ianto pointed out.

"All right, let's ignore that then," Jack agreed. "So you can sleep with me, but you're not sure you can live with me?"

"Oh, I know I can live with you," Ianto said. "After all, we've been in each other's pockets long enough. The question is whether you can live with me." He could see Jack was looking a little confused. "It would mean getting out of the Hub on a regular basis. Letting the team do their jobs, work on their own, that sort of thing."

Jack rested his chin back down on Ianto's shoulder. "You think they can handle it? Running the place on their own?"

"Only one way to find out," Ianto said. "It's a good team Jack. Maybe it's time to learn how to relax."


	44. Chapter 44

"Sure, let's relax when there's someone from the future creating timeswarms all over the place," Jack said in a sour tone.

"We've only have one so far," Ianto began.

"That we know of," Jack replied.

"I think we would have heard if there had been others," Ianto pointed out. "It's not like it doesn't leave a mess that the local constabulary can handle."

"Hmmm, true," Jack granted. He was quiet for a moment. "So, what do you think?"

Ianto considered the question seriously. "It's worth a try."

"Yeah?" Jack asked. Ianto wasn't sure, but there seemed to be a rather hopeful tone to his voice.

"Yeah," Ianto nodded. Jack squeezed him before pulling back. He turned and started to walk around, this time really examining the place more closely. He found that aesthetically, the flat was simple and understated. The kitchen was modern with some appliances which didn't look at all familiar. The bathroom was huge, with a large whirlpool tub as well as a separate shower. When he turned from the doorway, he saw Jack had removed his coat and was leaning against the island that served as serving area and separated the kitchen from the rest of the room. Jack was watching him to observe his reaction.

"So, what do you think?" Jack asked.

"It's nice. Comfortable," Ianto allowed as he sat down on the sofa and stretched his legs out. Jack pushed away from the counter and moved over to where Ianto was sitting. He sat down at the other end of the sofa and faced Ianto.

"So," Jack said. Ianto raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "Here we are."

"Mmmm," Ianto replied. He had the distinct feeling that Jack was uncomfortable about something, so he waited to see what would happen next. "Yes, we are."

"So what would you like to do for your trial night in this possible new place?" Jack asked. It was then that Ianto realized why he was so uncomfortable. He was nervous. Ianto smiled at him and he could see that Jack visibly relaxed with just that tiny response.

Ianto looked at the coffee table and picked up one of the remotes in front of him. It was for the sound system which seemed to be hidden somewhere, since it wasn't near the display opposite the sofa. He pressed a button and blues music started playing. Ianto was impressed with the acoustics. He was aware that Jack was still watching him, so he put the remote down, laid his head back and closed his eyes, letting the music wash over him. Jack lasted through three songs before he shifted closer. Another song passed and midway through he felt Jack's fingers stroke his hair. He leaned into the caress, enjoying Jack's touch. A moment later he felt the feather light touch of Jack's lips against his own. He couldn't help responding to the kiss. When they separated, he opened his eyes when Jack didn't continue.

Blue eyes were staring down at him from where he had turned his head in Jack's direction. They stared at one another before Ianto reached up and caressed Jack's cheek.

"Well?" Jack asked, his voice hesitant.

"It's nice," Ianto responded. "Both the flat and this," Ianto said as he moved to kiss Jack back. Lips touching lightly, Ianto enjoyed the tactile feeling of Jack's bottom lip between his own as he sucked lightly. Jack's lips parted further and Ianto let his tongue dart out for a moment to lightly caress the inside of Jack's lip. He opened his eyes to look at Jack. The other man was keeping a careful distance between them, the space an almost teasing barrier. As usual, he was waiting for Ianto to make the first move. Ianto shifted over and pressed up against Jack. The older man closed his eyes and sighed.

"What, did you think I wouldn't like it?" Ianto said, his breath tickling against Jack's ear. Jack nodded, but didn't say anything. "Have more faith, Jack." He was pretty sure why Jack was uncomfortable with what his reaction might be. Here they were, sitting in a flat that Jack had created, just for him. At one time he might have been unnerved by Jack's presumption, but after all that they had been through it seemed to be small in the scheme of things.

He pulled back and Jack just looked at him. He stood up and held out his hand. "Come here," he said softly. Jack took his hand and let Ianto pull him off the sofa. Ianto led the way over to the windows, close to the bed. "Look out that window," Ianto urged, and gently pointed Jack in that direction. He moved to stand behind him and looked over his shoulder in an unconscious mirror of Jack's position earlier. "Look at that beautiful city. That city which is still standing today because of you. Yes, there will be crises, there'll be aliens trying to cause trouble from time to time. But you're here to protect this city, and you have great taste in picking the people that help you. I think you've earned a bit of time to yourself, don't you?"

Jack considered his words. There were so many things he could say in response. Like the fact that at this moment they had no clue who the group or groups were who were trying to assassinate someone in this time. But Ianto's quiet faith in what they did and the people they worked with helped shore Jack's confidence that this problem would be solved as well in good time. Maybe Ianto was right, he mused to himself. He spent so much time thinking about everyone else that often he gave himself the short shift in the long run. And now, Ianto. Slowly, Jack nodded in agreement.

"Let go, Jack," Ianto urged softly. "Relax tonight." He turned Jack around and gave him a longer kiss which left the other man breathless. "I only have one question."

"What's that?" Jack asked, feeling a little dazed by Ianto's kiss. Ianto hadn't moved away and their lips were still brushing against one another. He could feel the heat coming from Ianto's body that was pressed up against his own.

"Please tell me that these windows are tinted on the outside. I don't see any curtains, and I don't fancy getting my kit off where anyone and their CCTV can see." Ianto said softly. It took a moment for Jack to focus on what he was saying, but once he did he chuckled.

"Yes," he breathed. Ianto pulled him closer.

"Good, because I don't want to think of what I would have done otherwise," Ianto said.


	45. Chapter 45

_Morning..._

The next thing he knew, Jack was kissing him awake. The sun was shining and Ianto immediately closed his eyes against the light and moaned. Jack pulled back and grinned.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead," he said softly. Ianto put up a hand to shield his eyes. "It's a new day. Time to get up."

"Don't want to," Ianto said. His voice was muffled since he was trying to pull the pillow over his face. Jack laughed and tugged it away from him.

"Come on, need to find out what disasters happened last night," Jack said. He gave Ianto another kiss and pushed himself away so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed. "Time to get up."

Ianto sighed. If the sun were shining and coming into the windows, then the day was probably further along than when he normally rose. He reluctantly propped himself up and watched as Jack padded over to the bathroom. He grinned as Jack shot him a glance over his shoulder before passing through the doorway. How could he resist that look? He decided he couldn't, so he rolled himself over to the edge of the bed and to his feet. Muscles protested as he stood up and stretched. It was another day in the 22nd century. He followed Jack into the bath to get ready, but not without a little dalliance to delay the start of the work day.

By the time they arrived at the Hub, the day was well underway and the whole team was at work. Todd looked up with a nod as the two men walked through the cog wheel door. Jack scanned the room and nodded at Rob.

"Anything interesting going on?" He asked as he stepped over to where the man was working at his console. Rob shook his head. Jack accepted a cup of coffee from Sherry with a nod. He took a sip and sighed.

Julia popped her head out of the OR at the sound of his voice. She had heard that there had been a coup the night before and was curious to see what Jack's reaction was this morning. By the time she made her way over to where he was standing, he was looking at the report log from the evening before, nodding as Rob talked to him. Ianto nodded to her before picking up the jacket and tie he had discarded the night before. He then made his way through the doorway down to the archives, a cup of coffee in hand. Gwri cocked an eyebrow at her and grinned.

"So Captain," she said as she looked at Jack. Ianto had been wearing the same outfit as the day before, but with Jack it was hard to tell, since he always wore the same thing. "Have a good evening?"

Jack grinned at her. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I did." He turned back to Rob and nodded for him to continue. Rob hesitated for a moment but when Julia didn't interrupt, he finished the report. Jack nodded. "Good. I'll be in my office if something comes up," Jack said. He walked past Julia and headed over to his desk. Julia stared after him.

"Let it go," Rob suggested. "Be happy they spent a night outside of the Hub and don't question it." Julia turned to look at him thoughtfully. Rob smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm going to hunt them down on the CCTV to see where they went. It's none of our business."

"You're right," Julia replied. She went back to her work, looking up only when Ianto came back upstairs wearing a new suit. When Jack called a meeting later that morning for the team, she noticed that his clothes had been changed as well. Jack asked for an update on their research projects and each of the team members responded before Jack sent them back off to work. Ianto and Jack went off to the playroom to work on the Kralyro project.

Several hours later, they had made good progress. The thing was beginning to take shape. Gwri had stopped working and was sitting backwards on a stool, resting his chin on the back as he watched. Ianto stood back and sighed. There were still gaps and some parts couldn't be attached because their matches hadn't come through the rift yet. But many of the boxes that he had retrieved from the Archives were now empty. Jack sat down on one of the empty ones and gave their creation a look of satisfaction.

"Jack?" Rob called out from his console. Jack tilted his chin up and looked across the Hub. "I think I found something." That comment got everyone's attention. Jack practically jumped off the box and made his way over to where Rob was working.

"What kind of something?" Jack asked. He looked over Rob's shoulder. There was some complicated looking chart on Rob's screen and Jack tilted his head to one side as he tried to make heads or tails out of it. "What do you have for me?"

"A hunch," Rob said. "I searched through the historical records for all of the parties involved," he explained as he indicated a list of the council members and their families, as well as the facilities employees who had been killed in the timeswarm. "Interestingly enough, several of them cross paths."

Jack blinked. "How so?" He waited patiently for Rob to continue. By this time, the rest of the team had made their way over to where the two men were standing so they could listen in as well.

"Councilor Andrew Cahill and Terence Davlin grew up in the same neighborhood in Cardiff," Rob said. He pointed to two tracks of information and Jack leaned in to peer intently at the screen. "Same schools, in fact. No sign that they actually knew one another, but chances are that they did. One becomes a council board member, the other an electrician."

He tapped some keys on his screen and a photograph popped up on the screen and pointed. "Councilor James Allen," he said. The photo was of a relatively young man seated in a group of other councilors, the minister was at the center of the photograph. "Youngest man to be appointed to the minister's council." Rob brought up another photograph. It was a photo of the same man looking much younger on a rugby team. Rob indicated him with a finger before tracing a path across the row to a baby-faced young man at the other end. "Nathaniel Malloy."

Jack let out a low whistle. "What about the third man?" He searched his memory for the name.

"Joshua Davies, I think." Ianto supplied from somewhere behind him and he nodded. "Yeah, Davies."

"Davies is where it really starts to get interesting," Rob said. He clicked on a file which was tucked behind the others on the screen. It revealed a wedding photograph. "As you remember, Mr. Davies was newly married. In fact, only just – less than seven months ago. His wife is one Sian Louise Prichard; daughter of Minister Prichard."

"Wow, the Minister allowed his daughter to marry a man who does manual labor?" Jack said in surprise. Minister Prichard tended to be an elitist, so this was unusual.

"Oh, I remember that," Julia said with a nod as Rob brought up some newspaper stories about it. "They ran off and eloped, if I remember correctly. The Minister was not pleased at the time, but then turned it around into a political coupe by telling everyone he had been all for it when his popularity rating soared on the heels of the news. In fact, that photo was staged, because they didn't have any photographs of the actual civil ceremony itself."

"Ah, trust Benjamin to take advantage of his daughter's happiness," Jack said with a cynical grin. He turned back to the screen. "I don't like this at all. The fact that all three victims tie into the actual council is troublesome. It also muddies the water for who may be the actual intended victim if there are associations between all three and council members."

"Perhaps not," Julia said thoughtfully. Jack looked at her. "Give me a few minutes and I may have something for you." Jack nodded and she turned and walked over to her console over by the OR. She sat down and started typing. He knew she had an idea and he tapped his foot impatiently. Waiting was never his strong suit.


	46. Chapter 46

When Julia began to take longer than he wanted, he began pacing. She studiously ignored him and seemed to be pouring through some records. Finally she looked up at him over the top of her display. "What I'm about to tell you is highly unethical, since I am violating medical privacy rules. But I'm going to do it because I think it is important," she said in a low voice that was pitched for his ears only. Jack waited for her to continue. He shifted from one foot to another.

"Sian Louise Davies nee Prichard is pregnant," Julia said. Jack's eyes widened in understanding. "Whomever it is who is doing this from the future probably hoped to get Davies before he impregnated her. Either that, or perhaps their timing was off and they were after her father. Either way, it's amazing that she hasn't miscarried with the news. They might have been hoping for that as well.

"Jack, I think she's the one we need to protect," Julia said. Something told her she was right.

Jack nodded. "We need to bring her here," he said. "Keep her safe." He chewed on his lip, trying to remember what he knew about the future, but he hadn't been in this timeline at all in the past, so had no knowledge that might help. "I'll send Ianto and Kip." Julia nodded.

"Ianto, Kip, I have a job for you," he said, clapping his hands together. Both men came over to where he was standing. "Take the UAV over to Mrs. Davies and bring her back to the Hub. Please take care of her – no sedatives or the like. The woman is pregnant. So try to calmly and gently urge her to come with you for her own safety, and that of her unborn child. We're taking her into protective custody." Both men nodded.

The rift alarms went off and he turned towards Rob. "What do we have?"

"Rift opening," Rob said. "Down in the shopping plaza not too far from the central offices." He tapped on the keyboard and brought up a map with a green circle flashing on it. Jack nodded. A second alarm rang and he looked at the screen. "And another over in Rhiwbina." He gave Jack a worried look.

"Shit," Jack swore. "Change of plans. Ianto and Kip, go now, but take your car. I got a bad feeling about multiple rift occurrences going on. I'll take the UAV. Rob, you and Julia head over to the first and Todd and I will handle Rhiwbina." Rob nodded and began putting his firearm in his holster. "I don't think I need to tell you all to be careful, right?" He looked at each of his team members and watched as they nodded. Sherry stood off to one side with a frightened expression on her face. Jack turned to her. "Sherry, I need you here to monitor the rift and keep communications open. Can you do that for me?"

Sherry nodded. The team scattered, intent on their own assignments. Gwri grabbed his medical bag and gestured to Ianto to follow him. They went out the main entrance to the car park where Gwri had his car. Rob and Julia headed out to his car once she had her bag in hand, leaving Todd, Jack and Sherry alone. Jack gave Sherry a searching look. "What is it?"

"I have a really bad feeling about this, Uncle Jack," Sherry said with a worried expression. "Something bad is going to happen." Jack reached out and touched her shoulders reassuringly. He pulled her into a hug before leaning back and looking at her.

"It will be okay. We have the best here." She nodded, but didn't look convinced. He knew that time was of the essence, but he also knew how important her hunches were. "Anything specific that can help us?" She closed her eyes and concentrated.

"I just get fear. Enormous fear, followed by great pain." She gasped softly and Jack had to hold her up. Tears escaped her eyes and began to trail down her cheeks. "I don't know who, but someone is going to be hurt." Jack felt scared for a moment. Was she seeing one of the team hurt? The woman they were trying to help? Ianto? Jack resolutely put the worry out of his mind. He wouldn't be able to function, otherwise.

"Listen, hon," Jack said softly as he cradled her face and forced her to look up at him. "Everything is going to be okay. We've been in tough situations before, and we've come out of them. We will this time as well." He kissed her on the forehead. "Positive thoughts, all right?" Sherry gave him a tremulous smile and nodded. "All right. We have to go. Keep the com open."

Jack turned away from her, not without a few misgivings. He had been in tough situations before. Times when things seemed impossible and stacked against him. This time would be no different, and with luck, they'd get through this together. He nodded to Todd and they headed out to the UAV and to Rhiwbana.

In the UAV Jack kept track of each of his teams as they sped off to where they needed to be. He could see Rob and Gwri's cars heading off in different directions as he glanced at the transparent map overlay on his windshield. Todd was tapping at the keyboard and trying to track down their other targets as well. Most of the councilors were at the government building at this time of day. The families of the victims were being tracked as well, and Todd got on the com to inform Ianto of Mrs. Davies current location. Jack glanced behind him as his computer expert watched multiple displays in the back of the UAV as he drove. He tapped his earpiece. "Everyone keep in constant contact," he said. "I want to know what each of you is doing at any moment. So start chattering," he said.

"I don't do idle chatter," Ianto retorted and the rest of the group chuckled. Rob said the same and Jack grinned as the others started chiming in with various complaints about the traffic, the fact that they missed lunch, and other lighthearted things. Each of them had a sense of foreboding. The multiple alarms going off had created a tense atmosphere that they all actively tried to minimize as they sped off in different directions.

"I'm hungry," Gwri moaned and Ianto could be heard telling him to buck up. That started a conversation about what to have when they got back to the Hub, the suggestions getting more and more outrageous as time passed. Rob and Julia broke off first as they were closest to their anomaly. Ianto and Gwri were next as they approached the home of Mrs. Davies. Jack tapped on the steering wheel as he waited. He had been stuck in traffic and the road to Rhiwbina hadn't seemed longer than it was in this moment for him. The light turned and he floored the pedal, swerving to avoid a lorry turning in front of him. Ignoring the blare of horns he kept on going. He wanted to get all of this over and done with now. Get everyone back to the Hub safe and sound. Then he could relax.

"Jack?" Rob's voice came over the com and Jack responded.

"Yeah? What do you have?" He turned down an empty lane and followed his tracker.

"Weevil gone mad," Rob replied grimly. "We have hurt civilians all over the place. Julia's going to deal with them while I head off after the Weevil. We've had reports that it's in the middle of the M&S."

"Shopping for better attire, no doubt," Jack said, attempting to keep a light note in wake of Rob's description. "If people are hurt, shoot to kill. I don't want anyone else getting hurt there."

"Yes sir," Rob responded. A moment later they could hear the sounds of people crying out as Julia went to go and tend them. She clicked off her com so it wouldn't filter through to the rest of them. The sounds faded away in Rob's com as he headed into the store in search of the Weevil.


	47. Chapter 47

"Ianto, where are you two?" Jack asked, his glance flicking over the screen. Gwri's car wasn't moving anymore.

"Just headed in to speak with Mrs. Davies," Ianto responded. He and Gwri were getting out of the car and Gwri slipped the latch on the little garden gate. They walked up the pathway and Ianto tapped on the door. They could hear the sounds of footsteps as someone approached. The door opened, and a wan looking young woman peered out the door at them.

"Yes?" She asked. She had a china doll look to her, with pale skin, blue eyes and two circles of red blush on her cheeks. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail but wisps of hair had drifted down on either side of her heart-shaped face.

"Mrs. Davies, my name is Ianto Jones. I work for the Torchwood Institute and need to speak to you," Ianto said, mustering all his charm as he sought to relieve any fears she might have at two strange men on her doorstep. He pulled his I.D. out of his jacket pocket and showed it to her. "This is my colleague, Dr. Gwri Morris. May we come in and chat?"

The young woman looked from one man to another before nodding and opening the door to let them in. "Please," she said. Ianto stepped through the doorway, followed by Gwri, who closed the door behind him. Sian Davies led the way through the small hallway to the parlor where she indicated they should sit at the sofa.

"I was just making myself a cup of tea. Would you like some?" She asked graciously. Ianto and Gwri both nodded and she asked them to please wait while she went back to the kitchen to make it. Gwri stood up and looked around at the photographs. They were all of a young couple who looked to be very much in love. Ianto looked around the room.

It was a small space, and not the kind of place he would expect the daughter of the Minister to be living. He wondered whether Minister Prichard had cut his daughter off financially, or whether they had just been too stubborn to accept money from him after his disapproval of her choice. The house was a detached single family home that was barely big enough for one person. With two it would have been a bit of a tight fit. He looked around the room, noting the homemade crocheted afghans draped upon the back of their furniture. A doorway led down a short hall which probably ended up in the bedroom and perhaps a bath, Ianto thought. Another door probably opened into a closet. The house wasn't very large.

His observations were curtailed by Sian Davies returning from the kitchen, a tray in her hands. Gwri stepped over to take the tray from her and he set it on the small table in front of the sofa. She had a porcelain teapot with matching cups set out, along with some biscuits for them.

"Thank you," she said softly as she took a seat, absently smoothing her skirt as she did so. "What did you want to talk to me about?" She leaned forward to pour them their tea and Ianto noted that her hand reflectively went to cover her stomach as she bent over. She wasn't showing yet, but it was only a matter of weeks before she did. Ianto accepted the teacup with a nod of thanks.

"It is about your husband," he began, only to stop when tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over onto her cheeks. He put the cup down untouched and reached for her hand. "I'm terribly sorry for what happened, and want to extend my condolences for your loss."

Sian nodded and reached into her apron pocket for a handkerchief which she used to blot the tears.

"I'm sorry. Just the mention of Joshua gets me going," she said softly. She looked up at the two men. "I don't even know what really happened. They told me that his body wasn't recognizable." She took a deep breath. "It all feels so unreal."

"It was an industrial accident," Gwri said. "Freak occurrence." Ianto touched his arm and motioned for him to turn off his com. He did the same.

"Actually Sian, we're here to tell you what happened," Ianto said. He made an abrupt decision that she had to be told some of it if they were going to be able to bring her back to the Hub without being sedated. For her baby's sake, they couldn't do that.

She looked from Gwri who looked surprised at what Ianto said before looking back to him. "It wasn't an industrial accident?" Ianto shook his head. "Was it an accident at all?" Again, Ianto shook his head. "Then what happened to my husband?" Her hands were clenched in her apron as she awaited his answer.

"Sian, my organization deals with unusual occurrences," Ianto began. "Things that happen that are outside of the norm. We work directly for the crown and are responsible only to the king.

"What I'm about to tell you is normally classified. But I believe you deserve to know what happened to your husband because then you will let us help you." Ianto continued. He took a deep breath and let it out. "We deal with aliens. People not of this world. Most are benign, but sometimes they are not."

Sian tried to follow what he was saying but it was obvious that she was confused by his comments. "My husband was killed by aliens?" She asked in a faint voice.

"Not exactly," Ianto said. "Any unusual event that happens in this area will be brought to the attention of our organization. There was an attack planned and unfortunately, your husband was caught up in it when the trap was triggered in the council chambers while he was working." He licked his lips before continuing. "He and the others were killed instantly."

Sian's eyes had grown wider as he spoke. "My husband was attacked? By whom? Or what?"

Ianto looked over at Gwri before responding. "We don't know, but we're working to find out who they are and stop them. Mrs. Davies, there's the possibility that they were not the intended targets, but there is also the possibility they were."

"What?" Sian pulled back, startled. "Why would someone want to kill my husband? Or any of the others?"

"What I'm about to say may seem fantastic, but this is what we think," Ianto said. He tried to project calmness to her. He could see her trembling. "We believe that and individual from the future trying to kill someone in order to change the future."

"What?" Sian echoed again. "From the future? That's impossible." She turned from Ianto to Gwri. "That's just madness!"

"It isn't," Gwri said softly. She focused on him as he spoke. "Cardiff sits on a rift. Think of it like a geological fault like they have for earthquakes, but in this case, it is an instability which allows people, objects and other things to shift through space and time. It is our job to make sure that nothing dangerous comes through. But sometimes we can't stop what happens."

"Like the attack on my husband and his friends," Sian said softly. She was beginning to believe. "Why would anyone want to come back and time and kill anyone?"

"Greed, power, money," Ianto said, ticking off the most apparent motives. "To change history so that a person no longer exists."

"This all sounds so unreal," Sian said. She looked at Ianto. "How would someone know if they succeeded?"

"Presumably, history would change for them in some way," Ianto said. She was taking all of this very calmly, he thought to himself. "A rival who was in the way no longer exists, for example."

Sian nodded. "And you think that my husband was the intended victim?" Ianto nodded. "Why?"

"Because maybe he was going to become the father of your child, who would then possibly go on to do something that this person doesn't want," Ianto explained. He watched as she reflexively wrapped her arms around her waist and looked down. "That is why we're here. Because if the desired result doesn't occur, the people responsible may try again, this time looking for a different target."

"Me," Sian said in a quiet voice and Ianto nodded. She looked up from her lap. "Can you stop them?"

"We're going to try," Ianto promised. "But we need your help."


	48. Chapter 48

On the other side of the city Jack looked at the mess in the field in disgust. The smell was horrendous. Todd was gagging as he tried to retrieve a sample of the pile of matter that had exploded upon impact.

"Any idea what this might be?" Todd asked as he scooped up a sample and retreated as fast as he could.

"First guess would be a low gravity alien who couldn't handle the pressure," Jack said with a sigh. "A very large one." He watched as Todd moved off to the SUV to run the sample through the portable lab equipment in there. Jack was setting up poles in a perimeter around the mess with the intent of containing it from spreading. He was most of the way around the circle when Rob signaled he had got the Weevil out of the M&S and was returning back to the Hub once Julia had handed off the victims to the local A&E. Jack acknowledged Rob's report and wondered how Ianto and Gwri were doing. Things had been quiet on that front and he was getting antsy.

He finished pushing the last of the poles into the ground and activated the containment field. The area glowed with a blue haze. He activated something on his vortex manipulator and the field began to collapse, taking the grass along with it as it began to contract. Eventually it squeezed down to the size of a small sphere which hovered in the center of the circle. The smell had dissipated and Jack sighed with relief. He retrieved a box from the boot of the UAV and placed the sphere in it before taking the poles down. Todd told him that it would be some time before they got the results on what it was, so he figured it was time to pack up and head back to the Hub as well.

"How can I help you?" Sian asked Ianto. "How can we stop these people or whatever they are when we don't know who they're looking for?"

"We want to take you to a place where you can be safe," Ianto told her. "A place where we can protect you."

"And how do you know that it isn't Deborah Molloy who is the target, or her children?" Sian asked. She wanted to trust this man, but she still wasn't certain. Everything he said sounded so fantastic and hard to believe. "Maybe it's her children that are the targets."

Ianto shook his head. "I don't believe so. The Molloy children are older. If the attackers were looking to stop them, they would have gone back to an earlier time, thus preventing the children from being born. As they tried to do with you, but failed."

She gasped softly when she realized he knew that she was pregnant. "But how…"

"Mrs. Davies, we know," Ianto said softly. "We're here to protect you, and to stop whomever it is from killing you or your child."

"Please, Sian," Gwri piped up. "We don't have much time. We need to get you to a place where we can make sure you're safe. Will you trust us, and come with us?"

She looked from one man to the other before nodding. "Yes. I can see you both really believe this. And this baby is the only thing I have left of Josh. What do I need to do?"

"Let's get you packed," Ianto said to her. "Kip, keep an eye out while I help her get her things together." Gwri nodded and Ianto got up from the sofa and followed Sian Davies into the bedroom at the end of the hall. She welled up when she looked at the photographs of her husband that sat on the nightstand next to the bed.

"He was such a good man," she said softly. Ianto had poked his head into the closet and found a small travel bag that would serve their needs. "It seemed we had so much going against us, with my father and all. And when we finally ran away and married, I thought that all of our worries were over." She sighed heavily and opened the door to the wardrobe. "And then, this." She started crying in earnest and Ianto paused in the act of taking some clothes from the hangers. She sat down on the bed and he sat beside her, offering his shoulder. She leaned into his embrace and sobbed.

"He was a good man," Ianto assured her. "He had to be, since you loved him so. Sian, don't ever forget him, and the love you had together. But you can't let that love paralyze you now. "

"I know," she said with a sigh as she pulled back and sniffled. "Let me get my things." Together they packed her enough stuff for a few days away from her house.

Back at the Hub Sherry was pacing nervously. The sense of something wrong was growing. Rob and Julia had returned, and Jack had reported that he and Todd were heading back. Gwri had called in and said that they were helping Mrs. Davies pack up some stuff in an overnight bag and would be headed back soon. Everything was going as it should, but she still felt a sense of unease that something terribly wrong was going to happen.

"Kip, please hurry," she said softly into the com. Gwri acknowledged her request and said that they would.

He was looking around the tiny parlor when he felt a vibration. He thought it was his imagination at first but then he noticed that the teacups began rattling on their saucers. "Ianto!" Gwri called. He was getting nervous. "Something's going on out here."

Ianto paused in the act of zippering the overstuffed suitcase. "Don't worry, Sian, we can come back and get some more stuff later. This won't be forever, either." He shook his head. It was like the air pressure suddenly changed and he felt his ears pop. Sian was looking scared as she reached up to cover her ears.

"What is it?" She looked around the room, beginning to be afraid. "What's happening?"

"Hurry," Ianto said. He picked up the suitcase and headed towards the door. He touched the doorknob and a spark leapt across to his hand. Swearing softly, he tried to activate his com but it seemed to be dead. He wrapped his suit jacket around the knob and opened the bedroom door. "Come." He went first and holding her hand, tugged Sian along behind him. He moved warily, alert for any sudden danger.

Gwri was wincing in the parlor and the effects they had felt in the bedroom were much worse in there. It was like a storm had started in the tiny room, and he shouted when he saw Ianto and Sian Davies, but the swirling howl swept his voice away. The pressure was now worse and was pressing him against the far wall next to the fireplace. Ianto hugged the other wall, trying to protect Sian. He dropped the suitcase, opting to keep her safe.

"Kip!" He shouted. All Gwri saw was Ianto's mouth moving. Though there were only a few feet between them, it may have well been miles. They were unable to reach one another. Somewhere in the vicinity of the coffee table a glowing circle appeared. It was white with a reddish tinge, and something swirled inside. Ianto swallowed as he realized they were watching the creation of a timeswarm portal. He pulled on Sian's hand. The buffeting from the intense winds pushed him back and he clung to the doorknob on the closet door, ignoring the painful spark as the electrical signal from the ionized air burned his hand. Items in the room started floating about, photographs smashing against the wall, the tea set flying about and tea spilling everywhere. Slowly Ianto inched his way along the wall, holding onto Sian for dear life as he went. She cried out as something sparked against her leg. Or at least he thought he heard her cry out. It was difficult to say with everything going on. He spared a glance for Gwri and hoped he could find another way out. Perhaps the window, if he could get to it.

The glowing circle began to increase in side, and with it, larger objects started shifting in the room. A chair slid across the hardwood floor and pinned Gwri against the wall. Ianto crept along the short distance to the door, each step a battle.


	49. Chapter 49

Back at the Hub Jack and Todd finally arrived to see Sherry pacing back and forth. "What's wrong?" Jack asked, a worried frown showing on his face. Sherry just shook her head and hugged her arms around herself.

"Todd, check the monitors," Jack said as he crossed the distance to where she stood. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Sherry said. "I'm feeling something is going horribly wrong. But the alarms haven't gone off. Everything looks normal. But I'm scared, Uncle Jack! I don't know why, but I'm scared." Jack pulled her into a hug and held her close.

"It's okay," he soothed her. "Everything is going to be okay." He kissed the top of her head and looked at Todd. "Anything?"

"No, all is quiet." Todd reported. He pulled up the activity from the last hour and expanded upon it. "Nothing that I can see in a cursory glance. It all looks good."

"Have you heard from Kip or Ianto yet?" Jack asked Sherry. She nodded. "What did they say?"

"Kip said that they were just packing up some stuff for Mrs. Davies and that they were headed back right after that," Sherry said.

"Okay, so they should be back soon." Jack said. He tapped his com. "Kip, you guys on your way back?" He got a worried look on his face when he didn't get a response. Rob was just coming back in from where he had dropped the Weevil off in the vaults below and he frowned when he heard Jack's question. "Ianto? Respond please." Jack turned to Todd. "Can you track them?"

Todd tapped at the keyboard. "Their coms seem to be down," he said. He did a search for Gwri's car, but that signal was obscured as well. He gave Jack a worried look. "No sign of them."

"What?" Jack was clearly worried now. Even if their coms had been knocked out for some reason, the car still should have showed up somewhere. "Trace the path from where it left the Hub," he ordered. Todd nodded and started typing. "Where were they headed?"

"Llanedeym," Rob said. He went to his console and pulled up the address for Sian Davies. "Number four Kestral Close." He looked up at Jack. "No CCTV in that area."

Jack swore. He turned to Rob. "Pull up the satellites. Tell me if you can see the car." Rob nodded and logged into the UNIT SETINET system and started narrowing down the view to the address he wanted. Jack paced behind him, waiting for whatever it would show.

Back on Kestral Close, Ianto was within inches of reaching the door. He pushed forward and was happy to feel the lash of the static electricity against his hand as he touched the metal door knob. He turned it, but the force of the air pressure was keeping the door closed. He pulled harder. It moved slightly then settled back against the frame. Ianto moved Sian to his other side, closest to the where the door would open. He leaned up against her ear so she would be able to hear him.

"I'm going to have to pull really hard to get the door open. Once it is open enough for you to get through, go." He shouted. She said something he couldn't hear and he repeated himself. He could see that she nodded. She clung to the wood frame of the window and he braced his foot against the wall before hauling on the handle again. The door began to move. Ianto took a deep breath and pulled again. A crack appeared. It seemed strange to see sunlight outside when they had this storm raging within. He took a chance and wrapped his fingers around the edge of the frame and began wedging himself in between it and the door. The door began to open. Using his body as a barricade, he kept on pushing, his goal was to open it enough for the woman to get through. He had no idea how he or Gwri were going to get out, but at the moment, the only thing that was important was saving Sian Davies. He pushed harder.

Soon the gap was big enough for a small child. Or a woman. Ianto turned his head and the pressure pinned his head against the door frame. "Go!" He shouted. Sian was looking on, horrified at something that was going on behind him. "Sian!" He shouted. Somehow she must have heard him, because her gaze flickered away from whatever it was she was watching and she looked back at the door. "Go!"

She had to get down on her hands and knees, but she was able to crawl underneath him and out the door. She collapsed on the ground outside, panting.

Rob was instructing the satellite to focus in on Kestral Close but it was taking more time than he really wanted. Jack was breathing down his neck and he was sweating under the scrutiny. He was also afraid of what he might find once he got the satellite in focus. The rest of the team waited anxiously. Rob entered the coordinates for Llanedeym and moved the focus up to the north end, where Kestral Close was. It was like looking through a microscope at something. There was no detail at all until he began to get closer to the ground. Soon houses began to appear and he had to correct the aim to get them to what they wanted to see. Jack was gripping his shoulder, his fingers digging into the bone as he waited. Rob ignored Jack and kept on working methodically. Eventually he located Kestral Close and started searching the street. The telltale metal of Gwri's car could be seen parked in front of a house.

"There!" Jack said with a shout. "Show me the house." Rob very carefully moved the satellite in increments. This far in, any fast movement would throw them off. He could practically feel Jack breathing down his neck as he moved the image over. "Zoom in." Jack said. Rob complied.

The team crowded around the display. Jack and Rob peered closer. "What's that?" Jack asked, pointing at something on the doorstep. Rob moved the zoom in further and they saw the body of someone outside.

"Oh god," Julia breathed. "Who is it?" Jack shushed her.

"I think its Mrs. Davies," Rob said after a moment.

"If she's outside, where are Ianto and Kip?" Jack asked.


	50. Chapter 50

Ianto was currently fighting the enormous pressure of holding the door open. He couldn't turn his head, but he wanted to see where Gwri was. If he could get over to where the door was, he could get out. There was a loud snap and the wind died abruptly. Ianto crashed down to the floor. He banged his head as he fell and was dazed for a moment. The sound of the wind was gone, but it was replaced by something that sounded indescribable. Ianto lifted his head.

There were three hunched figures standing in the middle of the room. They were grey in color with glistening scales. Ianto froze as he saw a forked tongue flick out of a snout and test the air. Something scraped as one of them moved and when Ianto looked he saw that they had wickedly sharp claws. One of the creatures was perched on the chair and just with a slight movement had shredded the fabric down to the metal springs. The one in the middle had lifted its muzzle and was testing the air. The last one had Gwri cornered against the wall.

"Get out of here, Ianto." Gwri said in a low voice. The other two lizard like creatures turned their heads at the sound of his voice. "Get her to safety."

"Not without you," Ianto said. He was a foot away from freedom, but he wouldn't leave his team mate to what would be a certain death. "We'll get out of here together."

"No we won't," Gwri said. His voice cracked and he swallowed convulsively a few times. "You need to get out and make sure these things don't escape. If they do, they could wreak havoc looking for her. I need you to do something for me, Ianto."

"What's that?" Ianto asked. He wanted to deny what Kip was saying, but he knew he couldn't. There was no way he could see to get him out of that side of the room.

"Go outside and close the shutters," Gwri said softly. "That way they can't get out the windows. The door to the kitchen slammed shut and I'm betting so did the bedroom door after you left it. We block the windows, they'll be trapped. At least until the gateway opens again and pulls them out. It can't be too long, after all.

"What about you?" Ianto asked.

"Don't worry about me," Gwri said. He slowly moved his hand towards the andirons that were by his foot. Next to them was the toolset for tending the fire. "I'm armed." When Ianto hesitated, he flicked a glance at him. "Go, Ianto."

Ianto bit his lip. Not again. He looked up at Gwri who was staring grimly at the three monsters in front of him. Ianto shifted slightly and one of the aliens creatures turned its head, its tongue flickering to taste the air.

"Ianto, tell Jack thanks," Gwri said softly. "I had fun while it lasted." Ianto closed his eyes for a moment before he nodded. "Go. If they move towards the windows, I'm going to distract them. I think they're waiting only because they can't sense their target. Go before they get a whiff of her." Ianto nodded and moved.

The minute he did, one of the creatures turned around to lash out at him. It narrowly missed his leg as he went through the opening and slammed the door behind him. The monster screeched and Ianto could hear the sounds of the claws scraping against the wood, the tips cutting through. Sian was just staring at him in horror. She hadn't seen the creatures, but that terrible cry it made as it lashed out had frozen her in place. Ianto dropped off the low porch and moved over to the windows. He carefully started working on the latch that held the shutter to the front of the house. Another screech could be heard and he heard Gwri yell inside. The latch stuck and he banged his hand against it until the hook popped out and the shutter started to move. He closed it over the window and moved to the other side, ducking below the bottom of the window so they couldn't see him.

Gwri screamed and Ianto froze. "Oh god." Then he heard him swear and Ianto breathed a sigh. He didn't know if there was any way to stop them, but he still wanted to help Gwri if he could. The wall banged with a thump as one of the creatures hit it and he started working on the other shutter. He had to bang his fist against it a few times, breaking the skin in the process before the latch began to give. Finally, he got it undone and swung that one closed and latched the two together. He froze when he heard Gwri scream. There was a flurry of movement inside and Ianto knew that the three monsters had descended on his friend. He flinched when he heard something wet slap the glass of the window and he sank down to the ground, his stomach heaving. His gaze wandered over the lawn and he shook his head when he realized that Sian was still too close for comfort. She was kneeling on the lawn, staring in horror at her house. He had to get her away.

Ianto staggered to his feet and ran over to her. "We have to go!"

"But what about…" She cried.

"It's too late," Ianto said hoarsely. "We need to get you to safety. Come!" He pulled Sian up and over to Gwri's car. He got her into the passenger seat before moving over to the driver's seat. His brain refused to function for a moment as he registered that Gwri had had the keys. Shaking the thought from his head, he pulled the cover off the column and began hotwiring the car. A few moments later he was driving off. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he silently said goodbye to his friend.

Silence ruled the Hub as the group watched the events unfold. Jack bowed his head after Ianto drove off. He knew that Ianto would not have left Gwri behind unless he didn't have a choice. The rest of the group was silent. They all knew what had happened. Sherry collapsed down on the sofa and started sobbing. Julia sat down next to her and wrapped her arms around the younger girl, trying to comfort her. But there was no comfort for any of them today….

~*~


	51. Chapter 51

Ianto pulled up into the underground garage and shut off the engine. Julia and Jack were waiting for them, and Julia gathered the young woman in her arms and led her away down to a room in the vaults where she would be safe. Ianto just looked at Jack. Jack held his arms open and Ianto stepped into his embrace. He rested his head on Jack's shoulder and closed his eyes.

"There was nothing I could do to help him," Ianto said quietly. Jack squeezed him tight. "Nothing."

"I know," Jack said softly. They stood together for a long time before Ianto finally pulled back. "Let's get you inside." Ianto nodded. He walked in front of Jack, his head bowed in defeat. He couldn't look at the rest of the team as he entered the main room in the Hub. Sherry walked up to him and gave him a hug, which he returned without really looking at her. Todd nodded to him but didn't say anything. It was as he was walking past Rob that the other man stopped him with a touch on the arm.

"There was nothing you could do," Rob said. He gave him a level look that Ianto returned. Ianto nodded. "Don't beat yourself up over this, Ianto. Kip wouldn't have wanted that."

"You're right," Ianto said with a sigh. He thought about it for a moment and then turned to Jack. "I'd like to give the report to the team together."

Jack nodded. "Okay. We'll convene down in the board room in fifteen minutes." Ianto nodded. He turned and walked through an archway, down to the board room. He had some stuff he wanted to do to prepare for that report. Jack stared after him.

"He'll be okay," Rob said. Jack nodded and went back to his office before heading down for the debriefing.

When the others arrived, Ianto was standing with his back to the group. He waited until they were seated before turning around. Jack kept his back to Ianto, giving him some time alone as he started the meeting.

"How's Sian Davies?" He asked Julia.

"She's well. A bit shaken up from the experience, but otherwise unhurt. No damage to the child," Julia said. "She's resting now in one of our safe rooms downstairs. I thought it best if we kept her away from most of the stranger things here. After all, it's not like we can retcon her at the moment.

Jack nodded. "Good. Now we see if the shielding on this place can keep her safe."

"It better," Rob said softly. The room was quiet and Jack turned to Ianto.

"Ready?" He asked softly. Ianto nodded and turned around. He scanned each of the faces before touching a button with his bandaged hand and displaying a drawing he had made of the creatures.

"This is what killed Kip," Ianto said softly. "He sacrificed himself so I could get away with Sian." He bowed his head for a moment. Then he told them what had happened. The team listened intently. When he finished, he repeated Gwri's last words to him and Jack closed his eyes and nodded. He then stood up and walked over to the kitchen area and came back with a bottle of brandy and a tray of glasses. He poured them each a glass and passed them around the table.

"To Kip," Jack said, raising his glass in a toast. "Our loyal friend and colleague." He looked up at the ceiling. "We're going to miss you." The others drank in his honor before putting their glasses down. Jack looked over at Ianto. He knew he was feeling guilty over what happened. Ianto was turning his glass around in circles on the tabletop.

"Rob, I'd like your help with the clean up," Jack said quietly. Ianto looked up, startled. "You and I will go." Rob nodded. Jack turned to Ianto and shook his head. "You're not going back there." Ianto stared at him for a moment and then looked away. He nodded. "All right people, stay sharp. We don't know if they're going to make another attempt at some point. Julia," he said turning in her direction. "I'm going to ask you and Sherry to help with Sian." Julia nodded. "I want to get on the road." He stood up, Rob a step behind him. Together they left the Hub and headed back to the Davies house.

Julia pulled up a chair next to Ianto. "It's not your fault, you know." Ianto looked up from the table. He realized the others had already left. "There was nothing you could have done."

"I walked away from him, though," Ianto said, feeling miserable. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that last glimpse of Kip before he went through the door. The determined look on the other man's face would forever haunt him. Intellectually, he knew that there had been no other choice. But he still felt terrible about it. She reached out and touched his face, moving his head so that she could see it. He had a bump near the temple and some bruising from where he had fallen. He pulled away from her and she let him. She looked down at his hand that he had bandaged himself, but couldn't see what damage there had been there. She resolved to look at it later, just to assure herself that he didn't need further treatment.

"You completed the mission and saved Sian's life," Julia said firmly. "You preserved the future that these other people are trying to erase. There has to be something important about this woman if they want her dead. Or her child dead. So you saved two lives today, Ianto. Don't lose sight of that."

Ianto nodded. "I know. But I keep on seeing Kip's face when he told me to go." He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his hand. Julia reached out and touched him on his shoulder.

"He knew what he was asking, Ianto. He was doing what he had to. It's what we all sign up for, knowing that there may be a time when we can't get out of a problem. At least he was able to say goodbye," she said. Ianto nodded. "He wouldn't want you to be upset, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Ianto replied. He poured himself another glass of brandy and downed it.

"That doesn't really help, either," Julia observed.

"No, but it dulls the ache," Ianto said softly. He got up and walked away from her, his hands in his pockets. She stared out the door and stayed behind. He'd either work it out or he wouldn't. If he didn't, then she'd do something about it. But in the meantime, she decided to give him some space.


	52. Chapter 52

In Llanedeym, Jack pulled up to the house that Ianto had left a short time before. He looked at the quiet neighborhood and shook his head. Rob was watching the house. All seemed quiet.

"This isn't going to be pretty," Jack said grimly.

"Didn't think it would be," Rob replied. He grabbed the knapsack off the back seat which held his supplies. He got out of the UAV and headed up the walk. Jack got out and followed behind reluctantly. It was eerily quiet and Rob noted that there were no signs of wildlife in this sleepy bedroom community of Cardiff. They reached the door. Rob shared a look with Jack before turning the knob and opening the door.

The smell hit them first. Rob tried not to gag and Jack swallowed several times before stepping carefully into the room. The tiny parlor was in shambles. The only light in the dark room came from the open door. There were tiny scraps of fabric scattered around and Rob realized as he bent down to look that it must have been the upholstery for whatever furniture Sian had had in the room. His eyes moved away from the scraps of bloodstained cloth that were splattered about the room. It was the same as it had been at the council chambers. There was nothing that even looked remotely human in the room. Rob let out a heavy sigh as he played his torch around the room.

Jack moved to the middle of the room and turned on his torch. The light reflected off the broken glass of the windows and showed the claw marks against the shutters. "It was a good thing Ianto was able to close them," he observed. Rob nodded but said nothing. Jack played the light over the floor. "Look," he said as he shone the light on something. Rob moved closer for a better look. Something glistened. Rob went down on his heels, being careful not to touch anything. He pulled out his own torch and turned it on. Whatever it was shimmered like mercury on the hardwood floor. Rob pulled a tool out of the bag slung over his shoulder and touched it. There was a sizzle and the tip of his tweezers melted.

"Woah," he said softly. He looked around for something else and his hand found a vial in the bottom of the bag. He pulled it out along with an eye dropper. Squeezing carefully so that he didn't take enough to fill the dropper completely, he waited a minute. The substance, whatever it was, seemed to be inert in glass. He put that into the vial and held it up to the light shining from Jack's torch. The liquid seemed to be constantly moving inside the glass. He shared a glance with Jack.

"At least Kip injured one before he went," Rob said softly. Jack nodded. Rob rooted around his bag again for something to seal the tube. Not finding anything he gently leaned it against the wall. "I'll have to hand carry that back." Jack nodded and kept on looking around the room.

"Be careful where you step. That stuff is dangerous," he instructed as he moved closer to the area that seemed to have the least amount of destruction. The fireplace area itself was untouched. Jack made a note of it. He looked down and saw that Gwri must have used the poker and tongs as weapons. Jack scanned the area before looking over in the corner. "Rob."

Rob looked up from where he stood at the other end of the room. "Yeah?"

"He killed one," Jack said softly. Rob moved over, being careful where he stepped until he stood next to Jack. Jack played the light over the creature that was slumped against the corner. "Good for you, Kip," he said quietly. Jack crouched down to look at it. Grabbing one of the pokers, he prodded the creature. Smoke trailed upwards when he touched the body with the poker. "Huh?"

"The iron?" Rob asked softly. There was too much of that mercury like blood to get closer to see. Where the blood was heaviest, it had burned through the carpet down to the concrete base and beyond. Rob carefully examined the pitted surface of the floor trying to see how deep it went, but he couldn't tell in the dim light. Shrugging, he grabbed the tongs and grabbed the closest limb. There was a hissing sound and they could smell something burning as he dragged it towards them.

"Oh, that's gross," Jack gasped as the noxious fumes reached them. But Rob was able to bring the creature off to where they were. It was remarkably like the drawing Ianto had made. Grey scales covered the body and limbs. Tufts of something that Jack wasn't sure was hair or antennae or something stuck out from the spine. He looked down at the claws. They were red and he swallowed. "This comes back to the Hub for Julia to dissect. Maybe we can find a way to stop it if they come through again."

Rob nodded and went down the hall to the bedroom. He came back with a blanket and dropped it on the creature. When it seemed not to be a problem touching it with the fabric, he used the tongs to roll it onto the blanket and wrap it so it could be carried. He had to be careful since wherever the blood seeped, it burned through the material. "How are we going to get that back if it keeps leaking?"

Jack thought about it a moment. "I got a stasis generator in the boot. It may help contain it for the ride back. Go get that." Rob nodded and went outside to get it. He came back a few moments later with a small box that he handed to Jack. Jack turned it over and pressed a button. The box unfolded so that it seemed flat. Jack touched something in the middle and placed it on the floor.

"Okay, you pick up one end of the blanket and I'll do the other. When you see a light start to spread out of that box, we move the thing over it. It will envelop it and hold it in stasis. But let go as soon as you can. Okay?" Rob nodded. A few minutes later, a white light began to shine out of the open box and spread. Jack picked up his end of the blanket and Rob grabbed the end closest to him. Together they heaved upwards and over until the blanket was caught in the field. They let go and the white light covered the creature until it enveloped it fully. "There. We can carry that out later," Jack said. Rob nodded.

They started the clean up. It was hard with the blood scattered around, although Jack found that if one spilled water that it diluted it enough so that it wasn't so caustic. He found that out while tossing a bucket at the area that had the most damage. Rob was wiping grimly at the wall, knowing that the blood belonged to his friend. They worked without talking, Rob and Jack combining their efforts to clean up the mess. The place was still a disaster area, but less than it had been.

"I'll open the windows in the kitchen to let things air," Rob suggested. Jack nodded. They didn't dare open the shutters since people in the street would be able to see inside the house. "I'll come back in a couple of days and see if I can get some workmen to fix all this."

"Thanks," Jack said. He had a feeling that Sian Davies would never return to this house after what had happened today. They carried the covered alien creature in its stasis container out to the UAV and stored it before heading back inside to close up the house. Jack inspected each room in the small abode, checking for any missed details of an alien presence. When he was finished, he followed Rob out of the house and locked the door behind him. They had repacked the bag that Ianto had left behind, since the outside of the bag itself had been damaged. He closed the gate to the garden as he passed through and stopped just outside, looking around. A bird called from the trees and he reflected that life on the street was returning to normal. After one last sad glance at the house and a silent goodbye to Kip, he turned and got into the driver's seat. Rob was quiet, his lips compressed as he fought to control his emotions. Jack looked at him and reached out a hand to touch his shoulder.

"We lost a good friend today," Jack said softly. Rob nodded and leaned his face against the fist on the arm that was propped up on the door frame. "He did good, though. He saved Sian Davies, and he showed us that these things aren't invincible. With luck we can learn enough to fight these things, and hopefully stop them permanently. I know it hurts. But at least he took one with him. It gives it all some meaning."

"I know," Rob said in a hoarse voice. "It still hurts."

"Yeah, it does," Jack agreed. He reached up and tousled Rob's hair. "It's okay to grieve. It is a part of being human. But don't drown in it, okay?" Rob leaned into his caress and nodded. He was a loner for the most part and tried to keep himself separated. It didn't hurt as much when he didn't care. But he realized with Kip's loss that these people had crept under his barriers when he wasn't looking. He looked out the window as Jack withdrew his hand and started the UAV. Jack shifted gears and started driving. But once on the main street he lifted his hand from the gear shift and offered it to Rob. Rob clasped it and Jack squeezed his hand. He held on just as tight until Jack finally had to remove his hand to downshift close to the Hub. But that little human contact kept him grounded for the drive back home.

~*~


	53. Chapter 53

News spread fast amongst the group that Jack and Rob were bringing back an alien carcass. Ianto and Julia were waiting at the back entrance as the UAV pulled up. Jack got out and looked at the two.

"Jules, I got a present for you," he said with a feral grin. He was hoping that she would be able to find him a way of fighting these things if they showed up again.

"Jack, you shouldn't have," Julia said with a faint smile as she watched Ianto and Rob lift the covered alien in the stasis field out of the back of the UAV. "You remind me of my tabby cat which used to leave me presents on the foot of my bed. However, this is one present I will gladly accept."

"Careful," Jack said as he followed them into the Hub. "You're going to have to be extremely careful of this one. Its blood is highly corrosive and this stasis field or glass are the only things that seem to contain it." Jack watched as the two men maneuvered the alien through the doorway and into the main area of the Hub. "Over to the autopsy room, boys."

"OR," Julia corrected absently, her mind on how she was going to do an autopsy on an alien whose blood was caustic.

"No, today it is an autopsy room," Jack said as he moved ahead of the two men to help guide them down the stairs and over to the examining table. "We're going to have to figure out a way to put this on something that won't disintegrate."

"I don't suppose we can just do a partial stasis," Julia mused. "That way we could suspend the base of the carcass while we work on the top, and then find a way to rotate it and work on the rest."

Jack shook his head. "Sorry, it's an all or nothing here. And we really don't have anything else that would be effective." They looked at the glowing alien that Ianto and Rob had put on the examining table. Already, blood had pooled around the base. The minute they let that field go, it would spill onto the table and the floor. They would have to be extremely careful if they were going to be able to do this successfully.

"Do we have any large plates of glass around here?" Rob asked. Ianto thought about it for a moment and shook his head. "It's too late for any of the shops as well."

"We could break in somewhere and get it," Jack suggested. Julia looked at him with disapproval at the suggestion. "Hey, this is all in the interest of science!" He looked over at Ianto who had a thoughtful expression on his face. "What are you thinking?"

"We have plenty of glass," Ianto said with a smile as he turned to look at Jack. "We just have to liberate it."

"Liberate?" Jack had a puzzled expression on his face. "Liberate it from what?"

Rob and Ianto replied at the same time. "The greenhouse." Ianto nodded. Rob said something about getting his tools and headed back out to his desk.

"Awww, do we have to?" Jack really didn't want to dismantle his little oasis. Although it wasn't the same one that had his team had built all those years ago since the Hub had been destroyed or damaged a few times since then, he did have a fondness for it. It held many good memories for him and as Ianto climbed the steps to follow Rob he smiled sympathetically at Jack.

"It's only temporary, Jack. And the good thing about those panes is that they are beveled so they'll hold the blood in without spilling, as long as Julia is careful. We'll put it back when we're done. Promise!" He said as his voice drifted away up the stairs.

Todd went to help them and soon they carefully carried one of the big panels down into the autopsy room and placed it on the examination table after moving the stasis held alien out of the way. Jack stood off to one side and observed as they placed it carefully so that the stylized Torchwood symbol etched into the glass was face down. He had to admit that it would do the job.

"Now, the only problem I can foresee," Julia said as she donned her robe and pulled gloves on, "is how can I dissect something that can dissolve metal?" The four men looked at one another for a moment.

"Iron utensils?" Rob asked. Jack looked thoughtful. Julia shook her head.

"Don't think I have any, unless you thought to bring them with you. And even then I can't very well dissect something when it's smoking around me, can I?" She put her hands on her hips and regarded the alien which was still covered in the white glow of the stasis field. "What else?"

"Anyone know a local smith?" Jack asked. Blank faces met his gaze. "Oh come on, there has to be one somewhere! They still shoe horses, after all!"

"Hardly practical," Julia said. "I'd love to get this done sometime before the battery wears out in that thing," she said with a gesture towards the stasis box. Jack sighed and scrubbed his face with his hand as he thought.

"Actually, I think I may have something," Ianto said with a thoughtful look on his face. "Be right back." He walked up the stairs and across the main floor, disappearing into the Archives. Todd shrugged and told them he was headed back to his desk. Now that they had been able to pinpoint the time of an actual timeswarm he wanted to look at the logs and see if there was anything unusual which might allow them to predict another one if it were to occur. Rob also went back to his console, wanting to keep busy and distracted. Jack nodded as he informed them he was going to go do some research.

That left Jack alone with Julia. She looked at Jack after following Rob with her gaze as he left the room. "How was he?"

Jack came down the short set of steps. "Shaken, but he held up okay," Jack said in a low voice. He knew that Julia was concerned about Rob's reaction based on her knowledge of his medical records. Though they were sealed, she had gone over them thoroughly before Jack had recruited Rob. She knew of his breakdown with the loss of his family and coworkers in an alien attack when he was with the SAS. "How's Ianto?"

Julia looked thoughtful. "I think it helps when he has something to concentrate on. He's feeling survivor's guilt." Jack nodded. He could well believe that would be the case, based on what Ianto had told them and the devastation he had seen at the house with his own eyes. He resolved to talk with him when they were alone at some point. He sighed and looked at his watch. It was now after six.

The clatter of heels on the steps drew his attention upwards. Ianto approached with a cloth bundle in his hands. Julia watched him speculatively as he brought it over to the instrument tray and set it down.

"Doctor, your tools," he said with a nod. Julia moved over and opened the bundle. The waxed fabric crackled softly as she unfolded it. Light glimmered off of something and as she lifted the flap covering the items, she saw a full set of surgical tools, all made of glass. She looked up at Ianto in surprise.

"Where did you find these?" She carefully picked up a scalpel. "They are exquisite."

"In the Archives," Ianto replied, a note of satisfaction reflected in his tone. "They're from the Torchwood Institute circa 1885. It was part of the historical archive at Torchwood London and was relocated here with some other items after the Battle of Canary Wharf." Ianto glanced at Jack. "Apparently when Suzie and Owen were cleaning up Owen felt some sort of nostalgia and brought them back here. I remember cataloging them some time ago. It's a good thing I did, since they will serve us well now."

"Yes, these will do nicely," Julia said with a smile. She opened the sterilizer and placed each of the instruments in to be decontaminated. Pushing a button, the device fogged up as the sterile field cleaned the instruments. "Thank you, Ianto. As usual, your knowledge of all things Torchwood surpasses everyone else's. May I ask a favor?"

"Certainly," Ianto replied, pleased that he had been able to help.

"Would you stay and assist me?" She asked. He looked momentarily taken aback for a moment before nodding in reply. "Good. Please change into a lab coat and help me move the body." She turned to Jack. "I'll let you know when we finish."

Jack nodded. He left them to it and headed to his office. The Hub was quiet again, the staff working at each of their assignments. There was no sign of Sherry and he assumed she was downstairs with Sian Davies. He lingered for a moment, watching Todd and Rob work. After a few minutes he chided himself for delaying the inevitable and climbed the stairs to his office. He had a log entry to make.


	54. Chapter 54

In the autopsy room Ianto had removed his jacket and replaced it with a lab coat. He also retrieved one of the anti-gravity supports from the Kralyro device and used it to float the stasis chamber high enough so that they could move the alien body over to their makeshift autopsy table.

"Careful now," Julia cautioned. "According to Jack we'll only have a few seconds to move the body before the field collapses completely. I'm not sure what will happen once we do so. Let's move quickly, but be careful not to allow it to splash us. If this is as corrosive as Jack and Rob said, then the only possible way to stop it if it were to hit the skin is amputation." Ianto met her gaze and nodded soberly. "All right, let's do it."

She touched a button on the bottom of the box and the field slowly started to retract. As soon as it had gotten past the point of the two ends of the blanket, Ianto and Julia gripped the material, prepared to heave the mass over to the glass table once it was completely free of the field. They both felt the increased weight the moment the alien was free of the field. Ignoring the hiss of the pooled blood dripping onto the tile floor they moved in unison and heaved the body onto the glass before letting go.

"Quickly, pour some water on that before it eats through the tile, or worse, gets down the drain," Julia instructed and Ianto poured the bucket that was standing by on the floor, diluting the shimmering liquid until it washed down the drain. They listened for a hiss as it went but didn't hear anything. "Good. I don't want to think how we'd explain leaky pipes to a plumber." Ianto smiled grimly.

"All right, let's see what we have," Julia said. She reached for her protective goggles and placed them on her nose. Ianto reached for the tray and grabbed a second set which he put on as well. "We have to be very careful because our gloves won't be any protection against the blood," she cautioned. Ianto nodded. "Please see if there are any retractors in that set of instruments."

Ianto nodded and opened the sterilizer. Steam billowed up and he waited for it to clear before unfolding a sterile cloth and taking the glass tools out, placing them carefully on the cloth. Moving the tray closer to where Julia stood, he picked up a set of matching retractors and held them ready. Julia smiled before pulling the mask up to cover her nose and mouth. She commanded the room into record mode and angled the light onto the table, making sure that it didn't reflect off the glass. She also turned on the sterile field which would surround them as they worked. This way, nothing could get out if there were some nasty surprise waiting inside the corpse. It wouldn't be the first time she had experienced something like that, and she would much rather perish than jeopardize the rest of the team in some way. She glanced up at the cameras recording everything that happened and nodded before looking down at the body in front of her.

"Let's see what we have," she said. Picking up a set of forceps, she carefully tugged on the edge of the blanket. The top of the alien didn't have any wounds, so the blanket remained whole. She peeled it back, folding it around the body, but keeping it on the glass. The grey scales gleamed and she examined it carefully for any signs of movement. "Commence diagnostic probe," she commanded. A light shone down from the ceiling and passed over the body before clicking off at the foot of the table. She knew it would be a few minutes before she could see any results on the display beside her and she carefully reached out the with glass forceps and pinched the skin of the forearm. Tugging on it gently, she was able to turn the body onto its back. Ianto watched intently, saying nothing.

The alien was part lizard and part dragon, for want of a better term, Julia decided. The dorsal scales were overlapping, protecting the back, upper arms and legs. The underside of the creature was covered with finer scales which upon probing carefully seemed to give more than the heavier ones on the back. She moved around the table and examined the body carefully. "This commences the examination of the species known as the Thral'dor," she said calmly. "This is the only known sample of this race and it is our goal to find any weakness with an eye towards repelling or defending against them in case of an attack. This specimen arrived via a timeswarm portal from the future with two other aliens. Together, the three killed one individual and decimated a room. It has been observed that they are sensitive to iron and our supposition is that an iron fireplace poker was responsible for this creature's death." She glanced over at the diagnostic display and saw that it was still processing the scan. "We will now do a cursory visual examination."

She proceeded to circle the table, verbally describing everything as she did so. She used the forceps to pick up the clawed hand and examine it. The claws shimmered and it reminded her of what the blood might look like if it was able to harden. She brought several different types of objects up against the claws and each item was damaged in turn. After she had exhausted the items in the room she glanced at Ianto.

"Let's see if we can find some other materials that we can test. I'm thinking in particular other metals and stones, particularly those known to be resistant to our own cutting devices," she said. Ianto had been making notes as she tried the various objects and said he had a few ideas of his own that they could try. She nodded and finally heard the sound that signified the diagnostic scan was complete. She turned toward the display and looked at the scan. "Interesting."

Ianto moved around the table so that he could look over her shoulder. The alien was made up of a composite of materials, almost something that the diagnostic machine registered as metal. The fluids had a long string of chemical algorhythms that meant nothing to Ianto. Julia peered closely at them. "Hmmmm." She looked up and noticed that Ianto was watching her. "Let's open it up."

Before they had started, Ianto had prepped a hose attached to a faucet in case they had to deal with the corrosive blood spilling. He placed the end of the hose in an area that would be easy for either of them to reach and picked up his retractors again.

"Ready?" She asked. He nodded. "Let's begin." She moved to the side of the table and picked up a glass scalpel. Working carefully, she created a small incision and waited. Nothing happened so she continued. The skin cut easily, and she was thankful for whoever it was who had commissioned these surgical instruments. They were amazing. As she continued to cut, Ianto reached over from his side and held back the loose skin with his retractor. Slowly, muscles were revealed as the epidermal layer was peeled back. They shared a glance before she began to cut into the muscle. Again, there was no sign of blood though Ianto kept a careful eye out for anything pooling at the bottom. Assuming gravity worked, it very well might be that most of the fluids had moved to the back of the creature.

The muscles were the same grey color as the skin. Julia stared at it thoughtfully as she cut. This layer was a bit harder and she had to press down more firmly to cut through. She grabbed a free retractor and dug into the gash to see how far she had to go. It was at least seven and a half centimeters thick. She made another pass and moved deeper. On the third pass she began to see a change in color as she reached something hard on one edge. She looked up at the diagnostic, which showed the endoskeleton of the alien. The area where she had started showed the end of the ribcage. Her scalpel scraped against it as she went further. As she went along the cut, she felt more give and pressed downward, carefully working her way through the muscles. She paused and waited for a moment, flexing her fingers. "That's hard work," she said. Ianto nodded. Together, they peered into the opening and each of the pulled back with their retractors, spreading the gap in the muscles.

The ribcage looked to be the same metallic like material that made up the claws. She saw that her scalpel hadn't damaged them though she knew she had been pressing down hard as she cut. They carefully opened the body cavity. Julia looked up at Ianto.

"No smell. Interesting," she said.

"For which I am exceedingly grateful," Ianto said, his voice muffled by the mask over his face. Julia chuckled. She looked back down into the body and picked up one of the clamping forceps. Using it to hold back the muscle and skin, she was able to stop using the retractor, allowing the clamp to contain the muscles and freeing her hands so she could look at the organs. Picking up her scalpel she continued.


	55. Chapter 55

Jack sat in his chair and looked at the blank screen in front of him. He was at a loss for what to write about Kip. He hated writing these things. Every time he had to make an entry he felt he was somehow at fault. That he should have been able to stop what happened. Prevent the death. He sighed and leaned his chin on his hand. A step on the doorway distracted him and he looked up to see Sherry entering with a cup of coffee in her hand. She placed it on the desk by his arm and he smiled into his hand. Definitely genetic, he thought with amusement.

"Thank you," he said softly as he glanced up at her. She looked wan and her face had a pinched look to it. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yes," she nodded, making the gesture automatically. She went to go back to work and he reached out and wrapped his fingers around her wrist, stopping her.

"No you're not," he said. He pushed back in his chair and tugged on her, pulling her so that she sat in his lap. She sat with a sigh and rested her head against his shoulder. His hand went up to rub her shoulders. "Tell me what's bothering you." She shook her head mutely. "It's about Kip, isn't it?" He could feel her head nodding against his neck. He wrapped his other arm around her and hugged her.

"You couldn't have stopped it, you know," he said to her. He could feel her body shift as she shrugged. "Your gift can only do so much, Sherry. Without focus, you can't predict what is going to happen."

"Then why have it at all?" She sniffled. He felt the hot splash of her tears against his neck and he closed his eyes in response to her pain. "Why can't it be good enough so that it would be useful?"

"Because that's not how it works," Jack informed her gently. "Gifts aren't something we can command. They don't have an on or off switch. They just are. And sometimes, they can't give us what we need to act properly. That's why it isn't a science, but a gift."

"I'd rather give this one back," came her muffled reply. Jack chuckled ruefully and he felt her stiffen in response.

"I'm not laughing at you," he assured her. "I was just thinking that you are probably not the first person to say that." He rocked his chair back and forth, seeking to use the movement to comfort her. He let her cry, knowing that it was part of the healing process. As he reflected on it, he realized that this was the first death that Sherry had witnessed at Torchwood.

"Is it going to happen to all of us?" Sherry asked. Jack had to think about it for a moment before he answered her.

"Eventually, yes. Someday," he said. Well, everyone except himself, he reflected. Although, even for him, he had noticed the slight signs of the aging process. It was subtle, but when he looked closely in the mirror he saw it. Inwardly, he was pleased.

"Tomorrow?" She asked. He shook his head and continued to push against the floor with his foot to rock them both.

"Not if I can help it," he assured her. "I can't make promises, Sherry. What we do here is dangerous. Everyone knows that. And what happened today just brings it closer to home. If you're scared, I'll find you another job somewhere. Another place where you can be safe."

"You.. . you want me to leave?" She asked plaintively. "To leave here?"

Jack held her close. "I worry about you, sweetheart," he said softly. "You're family, and I don't want you to get hurt." She turned in his lap so that she was cuddled closer to his body and he hugged her tight. "I only want what's best for you, and right now I'm scared I can't keep you safe from these things."

"I thought you said that the Hub is the safest place at the moment," she said, her voice muffled under his chin.

"I hope," he amended. "These things are unpredictable. I'm scared for the whole team, frankly."

"And Ianto, too?" She asked. Jack sighed and nodded.

"Everyone," he replied. He moved his head and kissed her forehead. She was silent and he could almost hear the gears turning in her head as she thought. He waited to see what she would ask next.

"Uncle Jack?" She asked. There was a tentative note to her voice.

"Yes, hon?" Jack replied. He was still rubbing her back as they rocked back and forth, the chair squeaking in time to his movements.

"Why didn't you tell me that Ianto and I were related?" She finally answered. He blinked. As far as he knew, Ianto still hadn't told her himself, though Jack knew he was considering it.

"How did you figure that one out?" He finally asked. Her felt her giggle and a slow smile crept across his face. She did have a contagious laugh.

"It really wasn't hard," she said. He could feel her lips spread in a smile against the skin of his neck and his smile widened in response. "After all, if you look at younger photos of my father, and my granddad before his hair turned, there's a remarkable resemblance." Jack nodded. He could see what she meant.

"Are you going to let him know you know, or just wait for him to tell you?" Jack asked her. She shrugged.

"Maybe I'll wait. It would be fun to see him surprised that I already know," she said. Jack chuckled. There wasn't much that would surprise Ianto, but that would. She pulled back in his arms and looked at him. "Please don't send me away." Jack looked at her soberly.

"Even if it's for your own good?" He asked her. She nodded and he sighed. "Definitely inherited a few of the more stubborn Jones' genes, I see."

"Definitely," she nodded before tilting her head to one side in a gesture that was endearingly familiar. "We're not leaving you to do this by yourself, Uncle Jack, so don't even consider it."

A slow smile crept over Jack's face at the tone in her voice. "No, ma'am," he said to her. She nodded, satisfied. He looked at her for a long moment, his eyes tracing the lines of her face before meeting her eyes again. "We good?"

"Yeah, we're good," she replied. She leaned in and kissed him on the nose. "I need to go see Sian." She pulled back from his embrace and climbed off his lap.

"How is she doing?" Jack asked.

"Scared, but I think that having me there helps. We're close to the same age," Sherry said. "And so we can chat about just about anything. I think Julia intimidates her."

"Julia means well," Jack said and Sherry nodded.

"She does, but I think what Sian needs right now is a friend. I can do that," she said. She turned towards the door. "Should I think about ordering dinner in? No one has had anything to eat since breakfast."

"Please," Jack said. "It will probably take a while for Julia to finish the autopsy, so if you order something soon, pick something that will keep for her and Ianto." Sherry nodded and headed out the door.

"Oh," she said as she poked her head back in the doorway. "Drink your coffee before it grows cold." Jack chuckled at her admonishment.

"Ma'am, yes ma'am," he said with a salute. She giggled and he grinned at the empty doorway. He turned away from the doorway and focused on the empty log screen in front of him. Squaring his shoulders he pulled the keyboard towards him and began to type.


	56. Chapter 56

Julia and Ianto had made good progress. Ianto had found some glass jars used for swabs and emptied them out. They were able to store the pooled blood there. Julia was going to put a sample under the microscope later. Unfortunately, they couldn't run it through any of her normal tests because of the corrosive nature of the fluid. Julia was running some deep tissue scans on the skeleton and organs. She was hoping to find some vulnerability that they could exploit.

When they completed the physical portion of the autopsy, they moved towards doing the lab work. Ianto carefully placed some of the blood on a slide for Julia to examine while he sliced bits from the organs to test. He opened the cabinets and searched for different substances to try against the organs. Some metals worked against the organs, making the smoke in the same way as the iron had. Others didn't make a difference, though the blood had the same effect on most of the items he tried.

"Interesting," Julia murmured and he glanced over at her. "The blood is not inert." Ianto blinked and walked over to look at the screen above the microscope. There was active movement in the liquid as particles shifted about on the slide. "I wonder." She shut off the light under the microscope and the screen went to a dark grey. Ianto peered closer, but couldn't see anything. Julia reached for something on the desk in front of her and brought out a tiny torch which she shone sideways onto the slide. The particles shifted away from the light on the screen. She lifted her head and glanced at Ianto before moving the torch to the other side. They shifted back to the other side. "Fascinating."

"It has a sensitivity to light," Ianto mused. He wondered how they could use that. At the moment, nothing came to mind. They went on to examine the rest of the organs and once the blood was drained Julia was able to run some tissue samples on the skin and organs. The endoskeleton proved resistant to cutting until Ianto found a rusty knife at the bottom of one of the bins. He used that to hack off a bit of the rib for Julia to test. Julia watched with interest.

"So ferrous ion, or ferrous oxide of some type may be the key," she mused as he finally worked the piece free. She dusted off the rust and looked at the end. It didn't look like the alien had the typical bone structure of a human or an earth-based lifeform. "Interesting."

"You've been saying that word a lot today," Ianto observed. He peered at the rest of the rib and didn't see anything interesting at all about it.

"Mmm," she replied. She tilted the end towards Ianto. "No Trabecular tissue," she said succinctly. When it was obvious that he didn't comprehend what she was pointing out, she continued. "In humans, that is the bone tissue which is makes up the inside of a bone, including the medullary cavity, which is used to produce blood cells. If the bones do not produce the blood, what does?"

Ianto peered closer. "You think this is important?"

"At this point, anything we know about these creatures is important," she said. "Something we learn here might provide a clue." She put the bone in one of the medical scanners and set it to run a series of tests on it. Pulling off her mask, she looked around. "I think we're done here for now. Let's seal up the organs, and I'll keep the sterile field up as well as turn the stasis field on just in case it feels like getting up and walking away." Ianto looked alarmed at the thought. "At this point, I don't want to be complacent in any way, and will err on the side of caution," she told him. He nodded and the two of them prepped the area before moving outside the area which would contain the space and set the stasis field.

Ianto removed the lab coat and draped it over the railing. Julia did the same and then stretched. She then lifted her head up as the smell of something delicious wafted into the room. "Oh my goodness, could that be food?"

Ianto's stomach growled. "I do believe it is. Something that smells rather good, too." He lifted his head and sniffed. "I distinctly smell oregano. My money is on pizza."

"Pizza works," Julia said with a nod. She went over to the sink and washed her hands, stepping aside with a towel in her hands to let Ianto do the same. "Thank you for your help. I appreciate it." Ianto nodded and gave her a smile, then gestured towards the stairs.

"Ladies first," he said with a smile.

"It's the twenty second century and I'm happy to hear that chivalry is not dead," Julia said with a smile as she made her way up the stairs.

"No, it was merely sleeping for the last one hundred and twenty five years," Ianto quipped and they laughed as they entered the main room. The sound of their laughter brought Jack out of his office.

"That's a welcome sound this evening," he said. He clapped his hands together. "Dinner is in the board room." They nodded and made their way downstairs. The others were already there and when the three senior team members walked in, it was to a quiet room as Rob, Todd and Sherry were seated and eating quietly.

"Sian not up to joining us?" Jack asked. Sherry shook her head. He nodded, then pulled one of the boxes towards him and took a couple of slices out onto a plate. He attempted to keep things light. "It's not Jubilee," he said to Ianto. "But it does the trick."

"I've been off Jubilee for a number of years," Ianto said drily. He and Jack shared a look that the others weren't a part of before he took a couple of slices of his own and sat down. Jack sighed and took his normal seat at the end of the table.


	57. Chapter 57

"Eat up, everyone. Need to keep our strength up," he advised them. The rest of the team went back to eating. Jack was looking at Julia. Something was going on in that brilliant brain of hers. She looked up when she felt him gazing at her.

"What?" He asked. He knew she was thinking of something.

"I find it interesting that we've made the assumption that the creatures are hunting for a particular genetic signature," she replied. "I know it was just a comment on Ianto's part, but it's an important issue. Are these aliens locked into a space and will attack anything in the room, or are they sent in with specific instructions?"

The others paused in the act of cleaning up their plates as they considered her question. Ianto spoke first.

"When they arrived, they were definitely seeking something," he said. " One was testing the air with its tongue, much the way a snake would do," he said as he remember the arrival of the three aliens in Sian Davies' house. "It was pretty much a stalemate between Kip and the creatures until I closed the door. Thus shutting off Sian Davies' scent."

"Possibly," Julia said. It was an intriguing idea. "And, once denied of their intended prey, they went for the nearest non alien life form." Todd looked ill at her comment and got up from the table.

"Kip, you mean," he said hoarsely. "I don't know how you all can talk about this so calmly." Tears were welling up in his eyes. "This was our friend. My friend. He hasn't been gone more than a few hours and all you can do is to refer to him as a life form." Sherry reached out her hand and he pulled his arm away. "Is that all we are now?"

Jack stood up and carefully walked around the table towards him. "No, that's not all we are. And it certainly doesn't even begin to describe Kip," he said in a soothing tone. Todd was trembling. Out of all of them, he had probably been the closest to Gwri. They were close to the same age and though had different backgrounds; they had found kindred spirits in one another. Jack wrapped his arms around Todd and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry, Todd. Sometimes in order to deal with what's happened we need to separate ourselves from it."

"How?" Todd was crying in earnest now, his head against Jack's shoulder. "How can you do it? I can't. I keep on seeing what must have happened to him…"

"Shhhh," Jack said softly. He rubbed Todd's back, seeking to comfort him. "I know." He rested his cheek on the top of Todd's head and closed his eyes.

"I miss him," Todd sobbed. He had his hand clenched around one of Jack's braces. Jack held him tight and let him cry. Sherry got up and walked out of the room, visibly shaken. Rob bowed his head. Ianto started to get up to go after Sherry. Julia shook her head and he sat back down. He looked at her with a miserable expression on his face.

"We all miss him, Todd." Jack said, patting his back in an attempt to comfort the younger man. "No one wanted him to die." He closed his eyes and let the man weep, just holding him close until the tears had run their course. "We miss him, too." Jack repeated.

Eventually Todd stopped crying and he raised a tear-stained face to look at Jack. "How can you stand it?" He asked in a broken voice. Ianto closed his eyes. It was something he had often asked himself, but he had never voiced the question to Jack. "How can you function, knowing that everyone you love will die?"

Jack looked him in the eye as he answered. "Because I don't have a choice," he said in a low voice. "Because if we aren't here, then there is no one else to stop what comes through the rift. And because while we may have to sacrifice ourselves, what we do will save countless others. It hurts like hell, and every time someone I love dies another little piece inside of me goes as well." Todd's eyes widened as he saw silent tears well up in Jack's eyes and spill over to his cheeks. "But I'll never forget any one of them, because forgetting would be to give up. As long as I remember them, they're still alive, here," he gestured to his chest. "In my heart. That's where Kip is right now. That is where all of you are, tucked inside." He pulled Todd back into a hug and they clung to one another for a long moment before Todd nodded and moved back. Jack looked at him sadly.

"Go home and get some rest, Todd," he said gently. "It's been a long day." The young man nodded and turned away. He left the room slowly, shoulders bowed. Jack stared after him for a long moment before putting his hands in his pockets and bowing his own head for a moment. The only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock on the wall. After a long moment Jack looked up and turned towards the others.

"We need to find a way to prevent another attack. I don't care how we figure it out, or what we have to do to get there, but we need to do it. We work all night if we have to, but I don't want to lose anyone else." He turned away before any of them were able to reply and walked out of the room.

Ianto twitched as if he wanted to get up and follow Jack, but he also knew the urgency of the work they needed to do. He stared after Jack's retreating back for a long moment before he looked at Julia. "Back to the autopsy then," he said softly. Julia nodded.

"I'm going to go talk to Jack," Rob said as he got up. "Maybe we can find something we missed and be able to stop them." Ianto nodded and he got up and walked out of the room.

"Ianto, please see what we have in way of materials that we can test with the alien tissue," Julia requested. Ianto nodded and got up. He methodically packed up the empty boxes while she watched. She knew that having something mundane to do was probably soothing, and that it was a way for him to not think about what happened. She helped him finish cleaning up before heading back to the OR to do some work.

Ianto entered the room a half hour later with a box in his hands. He came down the steps and waited for Julia to lower the protection field before entering. Once he stepped through the perimeter, Julia raised it again. She was taking no chances at the moment and wanted to contain anything in the OR.

"What did you find?" She peered into the box as Ianto set it down on the tray. "Hmmmm."

"Everything from household cleansers to items with various metals in them," Ianto said. Julia nodded in approval.

"All right, let's get started," she said. The two began to work, doing every possible test that they could think of on the alien. They worked through the night, their own concession to fatigue being when Ianto moved two of the high backed stools into the room for them to sit on as they worked. He felt like they were racing against the clock, and at times he chafed against Julia's calm and methodical measures. But he also knew that they needed to be extremely careful and thorough if they were going to stand a fighting chance. He rubbed his tired eyes and went onto the next item. A glance at the clock showed that it was after three in the morning. He sighed and turned back to Julia.

"How about hydrochloric acid?" He asked as he held up the container. She nodded and prepped another dish to test their latest liquid.


	58. Chapter 58

After Jack had left the board room he had wandered around the vaults for a while. It took a while for Rob to catch up with him and Jack didn't pause until he heard the echoes of the boot heels coming from behind him.

"Ianto, I –" Jack stopped when he turned and realized it wasn't Ianto behind him, but Rob. "Robert."

Rob nodded. "You're a hard man to find when you go off wandering," he noted. He looked around the corridor. It looked much like the others he had been wandering through for what had seemed like hours. He had attempted to reach Jack on the coms but hadn't been able to get through.

Jack smiled wryly. "Sorry about that. I needed to think." He gestured towards Rob with his chin. "What's up?"

"I want your permission to go back to the house," Rob said. Jack looked momentarily confused by his request. He canted his head to one side as he regarded Rob.

"Why?"

"Because I feel like we've missed something," Rob said. "Both at the Crown building and the Davies residence. Something important." He couldn't' articulate why he felt like that, but the urge to just pick up and leave the Hub was almost overwhelming and he could feel his muscles twitch as he held them in check.

Jack looked at him for a long moment as he considered what Rob had to say. "What makes you think you're going to find it this time?" He asked quietly.

"I don't know," Rob said. "But I feel like I need to go look again."

"Both locations?" Jack asked. Rob nodded. "Good luck getting into the government building," he said.

"That won't be a problem," Rob replied. Jack smiled for the first time that day since Gwri died as he met Rob's gaze.

"All right, do it. But I want you to stay in constant contact," Jack ordered and Rob nodded. "And armed. I know that they probably won't pop up there again, but humor me. Come with me to the armory," Jack said. Rob blinked at his request but followed him readily enough.

The two men walked swiftly through the halls until they got to the firing range. Inside, part of the room was closed off as an armory. Jack opened the door and walked through, leaving it open for Rob. Rob followed him in and watched as Jack walked past their normal armament to the back of the room where the lesser used storage lockers were located. Rob hadn't been in this back area often since it was usually the area where alien weaponry was stored. Rob blinked at the large sword which was stuck into a holder and he peered at it curiously. Jack glanced up and grinned.

"I see you found my souvenir Sycorax sword," He said. "Be careful, that thing can pack a wallop. Silly race. Had interstellar travel and still believed in magic. Ah well." Rob moved back from the sword, but studied it curiously. Jack stared at it for a moment before shaking himself and going back to looking through the cabinets. Rob could hear him muttering to himself as he opened several of them and looked inside.

"Got you," Jack said with a note of triumph in his voice and he pulled an old-fashioned flintlock rifle out of the case. He turned around with a grin and held it out to Rob.

"You're serious?" Rob said in disbelief. Jack nodded. Rob looked at the old weapon in Jack's hands before looking up at his face. "Why would you want me to use that?"

"Because I need you to," Jack said. He gestured with the rifle and Rob took it from his hands.

"A War Horse?" Rob said in disbelief. The dark wood of the Lee-Enfield MKI rifle had a dark patina to it, as if countless hands had polished it over the years. "Does it still work?"

"Yes, of course it does!" Jack said with a laugh. "I've used it myself." As Rob gave him a skeptical look, he continued. "Well, it has been a while, but it should work."

Rob's hands caressed the rifle. He was a history buff and knew well the story behind a rifle such as this. He looked up at Jack. "This was yours?" Jack nodded.

"I used it in the Anglo-Boer War in 1901," Jack said quietly. Rob nodded. He carefully inspected the rifle and saw that someone had taken care of it. He looked up at Jack.

"Why this?" Rob asked. Jack turned and looked in the cabinet. He pulled out a munitions supply case and opened it.

"Special bullets," Jack said. He looked down into the box and counted them. "Lead ball with an iron core. Used for fighting faeries." Jack smiled at the look on Rob's face. "Yes, they do exist. Nasty things, too."

Rob nodded in understanding. "So this will pack a punch." He knew that anything they used in modern weapons was made up of elements which wouldn't damage the inside of the barrel the way iron would. "All right." He leaned the barrel against his shoulder and held out his hand for the box. "How much do you have?"

"Enough for a few rounds," Jack said with a look of satisfaction. "I wish we had something that would allow you to shoot without having to reload, but unfortunately that's the only thing I have on hand."

Rob nodded and checked the number of bullets in the case. "It will have to do."

"Well, it's either that or a blunderbuss filled with iron shot," Jack said with a grin. Rob shook his head at the suggestion. He might as well shoot himself in the foot, he thought ruefully.

"All right. Take that with you," Jack said. Rob headed out to the main Hub area with Jack following him. Once upstairs, he packed a bag and found a case to put the rifle in to carry with him. Jack stood and watched him.

"What are you going to do?" Rob asked him. Jack was rocking back and forth on his heels. They could hear the faint sounds of Ianto and Julia speaking to one another in the other room as they worked. Jack looked over and saw Sherry asleep on the sofa. His gaze passed over the room and focused on the Kralyro device which was still sitting in pieces in the playroom.

"I," he said with a determined expression as he rolled up his sleeves, "am going to work." Rob noticed the direction of his gaze and nodded.

"Go for it," he said. At this point, anything would help. It would be ironic if the very thing that had been falling through the rift for the last three centuries ended up being the thing that stopped the aliens. He gave Jack a nod before heading out to the UAV.


	59. Chapter 59

Jack turned towards the puzzle in the playroom and stood with his hands on his hips. Ianto had made good progress, but there was still a lot that could be added on to the device. He cocked his head to one side as he considered the scattered bits and pieces around the room. Scanning for the sheets they had abandoned the day before, he saw them resting on top of a crate where he had set them down.

Walking decisively, he picked them up and flipped through the pages, looking for a shape that seemed promising. One did and he looked around for a part that would match. Finding that easily enough, he then walked around the co-joined pieces and found a place to put it. It clicked in with a satisfying snap and he grinned. One down, he thought with satisfaction. He flipped that page over so that it was facing away from the rest and shifted it to the bottom, then went to the next print out. With luck, by the time Julia and Ianto finished he would have made some progress.

Several hours later, Jack blinked blearily as the alarms went off and the cog wheel door opened. Todd came in, looking like he hadn't slept very well. The sound had aroused Sherry and she sat up and looked around dazedly. Jack rubbed his eyes and nodded to Todd.

"Morning," he said. Todd gave him a wan smile and walked over to his console and sat down. Sherry got up and went over to the kitchen. After splashing water on her face she started making them coffee. Jack realized he hadn't heard from Rob since he had left the Crown building after not finding anything in his search. He reached up for his com and called Rob.

"Robert, where are you?" Jack asked. He closed his eyes when the smell of the brewing coffee wafted over to where he stood. "I hope that's the industrial brew, Sherry!" He called out. "We're going to need it today."

"Still at the Davies' house," Rob replied. He had been over both locations and hadn't found a thing. But something was telling him that he was missing something. As if he wasn't looking in the right place. He caught his reflection in the mirror in the hall leading from Sara Davies' bedroom and knew he looked like hell – his eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot. He suspected that the rest of the team didn't look much better. "Haven't found anything, but I feel like there's something here."

"Don't push it Rob," Jack said tiredly. "If you can't find it, no one can. Maybe you're wrong. Maybe there's nothing there at all."

"Perhaps," Rob said. He walked back into the parlor. It was dark, other than the light coming in from the kitchen doorway. He sighed deeply.

Jack turned at the sound of steps behind him and saw that Julia and Ianto were finally leaving the autopsy room. Jack scanned their faces. Both looked exhausted, though there seemed to be a look of satisfaction on Julia's face. "What'd you find? Anything?"

"Oh, a whole number of things that may hurt them," Julia said. "The question is having any of it on hand in case they show up again." Ianto nodded and sat down heavily in a nearby chair. He gratefully accepted a cup of steaming coffee from Sherry who was making the rounds.

"None for me," Julia said, waving Sherry away. "I need to get some sleep or I'm going to be worse than useless later. I think I'll just go down to one of the spare rooms downstairs and take a nap." She looked at Ianto. "Take a look again after that last test finishes running and add it to the rest. Jack, we should have something fairly comprehensive in a couple of hours. I'll be back to debrief, but I really need to sleep."

"Go," Jack said gently. He watched as she almost stumbled down through the doorway and out of sight. "Ianto, anything that might help Rob out?" He explained that Rob had gone back to the scenes of both attacks.

Ianto rubbed the back of his neck as he thought. "He take the UAV with him?" Jack nodded. "Have him bring one of the full spectrum work lights in and shine it around the room." Jack looked intrigued and started to repeat it to Rob.

"Already heard him," Rob said. He opened the door and went down the path to where the UAV was parked. "I'll try that now."

Jack nodded and took the cup that Sherry handed to him. "Thank you, sweetheart." He took a sip and sighed. "Rob, don't take too much longer. If that doesn't work, leave it for now and just come back to the Hub."

"Yes, sir," Rob replied. Jack walked over to where Ianto sat and hooked a stool with his foot. Sitting down, he looked at him tiredly.

"We know more today than we did yesterday," Jack said quietly and Ianto nodded. "Any bit of knowledge is good."

"Good only if we can do something with it," Ianto said. He had drained his mug and looked down in surprise. "I didn't even taste that. And God, I need another." He pushed himself up against the chair with a groan and slowly made his way over to the coffee pot. Sherry was on the phone and Jack could hear her ordering in from the local take away. He smiled wryly. Life went on, people needed sleep and food. The place was still running, battered and bruised as they were. His glance passed over to Todd and he sighed. Finishing his own cup, he got up and headed over to where Todd was working.

"Hey," he put his hand on the younger man's shoulder and Todd flinched. "How are you doing?" Todd just shrugged and Jack sighed inwardly. "Did you sleep at all?" He asked. Todd shook his head. "Maybe you should, then."

"I couldn't sleep," Todd said hoarsely. He was pulling up some screen and doing some sort of cross comparison with another program. "I might as well be here, I guess. At least I can feel like I'm doing something." Jack nodded but didn't say anything for a long moment. He smiled as Ianto walked over with a carafe and poured him another cup of coffee. He sipped. Halfway through the second mug his brain kickstarted into gear. He began to focus on what Todd was looking at and he moved closer to the screen.

"Is that the translation program?" He asked. Todd nodded. Alien symbols were cycling through as the computer did a cross comparison with the image from the artifact. Several of them had been translated into what looked to be random numbers and symbols that looked like chemicals. Jack stared at it, wiling it to make some sort of sense, but it didn't.

"It's been working on this for over two days," Todd said with a glance down at the screen that Jack was staring at. "So far it looks like gibberish." He glanced miserably at Jack. "I don't seem to be much help, am I?"

"Hey," Jack said as he gripped Todd's shoulder. "You are a tremendous help. We couldn't do this without you. Don't lose heart. Just keep on working and we'll get there. Every member of this team is important, you hear me?" He shook Todd gently and the computer programmer nodded. "Okay then."

He gave Todd one last squeeze and turned away. "Rob? Anything?"

"Nothing," Rob said with a sigh. "I've tried everything – heat, light, even tried the sound spectrum. Nothing." He was packing up the last of the gear, disappointed that his hunch hadn't panned out.

"Come back home, Rob." Jack said. "Breakfast will be waiting for you when you get here. Briefing in about 90 minutes," he said with a look at his watch. Rob acknowledged him and signed off.


	60. Chapter 60

He turned to Ianto who was getting to his feet and heading back to the autopsy room. "Hey, maybe you should get some sleep as well." Ianto regarded him with a bleary expression on his face.

"You know I don't do naps," Ianto replied. Jack gave him a tired grin. It wasn't the first time they had this conversation. Jack followed him down the steps and through the decontamination field. The alien body had been contained in one of the cryo caskets. Jack leaned on the edge of the glass tray that they had used for an examination table and watched as Ianto stood at the diagnostic display and checked the test that they had left running. Jack grinned. He was about to set his coffee cup down on the glass when Ianto stopped him.

"Don't do that, you'll contaminate the area," he said without looking around. Jack shook his head.

"Are you ever going to tell me how you do that?" Jack asked. It drove him mad how Ianto had that second sense which seemed to anticipate his every move before he thought to do it.

"If you want to set it down, do it over there," Ianto said, indicating the upper level tiled platform area. Jack moved over and put his cup down. "Thank you."

"You didn't answer my question," Jack said as he wrapped his arms around Ianto's waist. He didn't try to interfere with his typing, but simply hugged him and rested his chin on Ianto's shoulder. Ianto tilted his head to rest against Jack's but didn't reply. "That is so not fair."

"Life isn't fair, Jack," Ianto responded with a dry note in his voice. "Surely you've learned that lesson by now?"

"Awww," Jack replied. He glanced up at the monitor display and saw that the task bar on the calculations was still running. Ianto really didn't have anything to do at the moment. Jack pulled him back against himself and moved his hand up to caress Ianto's chest. "You're not going to tell me, are you?" He could see Ianto's reflection in the display before them as well as his smile.

"And cede the advantage? Hardly," Ianto responded. Jack sighed and closed his eyes. Ianto looked down at the hand that had slid under his lab coat and he smiled. "Maybe you should take your own advice and go lie down." He could feel Jack shake his head, the movement of his chin rocking against his shoulder. "It may do you some good."

"I have an aversion to sleeping alone these days," Jack said. He began caressing Ianto's chest with his hands. "I've gotten used to having a warm body by my side as I sleep."

"Any warm body or one in particular?" Ianto asked with amusement. Jack opened his mouth to reply and was interrupted by the door alarms going off. He sighed.

"That would be Rob," Jack said as he pulled reluctantly back from Ianto. "And, hopefully breakfast." He stepped over to where he had set his mug down and picked it up. "I'm going to need another cup."

"More than just one, I'm sure," Ianto said. He tugged off his lab coat and draped that over the end of the examining table. He was looking tired and decidedly disheveled, which amused Jack. Ianto only gave him a look as he got a glimpse of Jack's expression. "Oh, stop it." He picked up his own mug and started climbing the stairs.

"What?" Jack protested as he followed Ianto up the stairs, a grin on his face. "I like the view." Ianto said nothing but kept on walking. He ignored Jack's chuckle. He could see that Todd was helping Sherry carry some boxes of take away across the Hub and through the archway leading to the board room. The two men followed them with Rob bringing up the rear.

"No luck?" Ianto asked as Rob caught up to them. Rob shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Maybe with some rest it will come to you, whatever it is."

"Maybe," Rob acceded tiredly. "Feels like I wasted my time, though." Ianto clapped him on the back as they went through the door to the board room together. Sherry was unpacking the containers and Ianto wanted to swoon at the smell.

"Oh that smells good," he said as he sniffed appreciatively. He went over to the sideboard to make them another round of coffee. Rooting around the cabinets, he found the bold variety and started mixing it with one of the others before making a large pot. He noted that Sherry was making up a plate for their visitor to take to her room so when she left he took over on dishing out the food to the team as they sat down.

"You don't need to do that," Jack told him.

"I'm doing it only so you don't take all the good bacon," he said with a wink as he portioned out some food for Rob, who nodded gratefully. Julia came in shortly after and sat down.

"How do you do that?" Jack asked in amazement. Julia looked like she had gotten a full nights rest instead of only sleeping a little less than two hours.

"Lady's secret," she said with a smile as she poured herself a cup of coffee from the carafe Ianto had set on the table. Jack harrumphed and her smile broadened. She had to admit to a certain amount of delight when she was able to best him in a conversation.

They weren't a very talkative group. Sherry opted to stay with Sian for breakfast so it was just the five of them. When they were finished, Todd opted to clean up while Julia got started on her presentation.

She pulled a keyboard towards her and the large display behind Jack flickered. He moved off to one side so he could watch. "This is what we know," she began.

"The aliens are sensitive to light, particularly between 1 Kelvin to about 10 million Kelvin," she stated. She showed a series of test results. "That range is microwave to x-ray on the scale for those who are interested." Rob nodded. "Interestingly enough, they don't seem to be sensitive to the far ends of the spectrum. A gamma pulse didn't have any effect, nor did long range. Infrared seemed to cause the most noticeable reaction." Jack nodded and kept his eyes focused on the screen before him.

"Submitting the alien to sound waves did not produce much of a response until we tried, on Ianto's suggestion, harmonics." Julia said with a nod to the man opposite her across the table. He nodded in response. "There was a noticeable reaction to our samples when we tried that. More so when we combined the two – light and sound harmonics."

Jack tilted his head. "Enough to be able to create a weapon?" He asked. Julia nodded.

"I do believe so. In fact, we may be able to come up with something portable with Todd's assistance," she replied. Todd nodded and pulled up his own keyboard so he could start working on some ideas using the local display in front of him.

"On the chemical front we tried everything from common dish soap to chemicals using alcohol, ketones, chloralkylines and various types of acids. Out of the latter, Methylene Dichloride was the most effective. It may be possible to create a spray that would be damaging, but the user would need to avoid inhaling it," Julia continued

"That doesn't sound promising," Jack frowned. "Not like we can go around with squirt guns and masks." The group around the table excepting Ianto gave him blank looks. Jack sighed. "Nevermind."

"On the metallurgy tests we have more promising results," Julia said. "It seems like there has to be a certain amount of ferromagnetic material in the metal for there to be a reaction. Radioactivity doesn't seem to be a factor," Julia stated as she pulled up some complicated looking formula results. "But many of the oxides had some effect, with varying results."

"So what's the bottom line?" Jack was tired and focusing on the technical stuff was never his strong point.

"The bottom line, Jack, is that these aliens do not have any traces of iron in their genetic structure," Julia said. "In fact, based on the reaction we have seen in our testing, I would say that they are allergic to it."

Jack tapped his fingers against the tabletop as he thought about what she said. "So now we figure out how to use that against them."

"Or better yet, stop them from coming here altogether," Rob said. He really didn't look forward to a battle with old fashioned armament. Besides the War Horse, he was waiting for Jack to tell them to don armor and swing a sword at the aliens.

"Or a combination of the two," Ianto mused. He was slumped in his chair having known most of what Julia was going to say in the meeting, and was obviously exhausted. Jack smiled at him sympathetically.

"Ianto, could you describe the events which led up to the opening the portal?" Rob asked. Ianto blinked. Then he went through describing what had happened, including the pressure, wind and darkness that surrounded them until the portal appeared.

"And that's when all of that stopped, right?" Rob asked. He was taking notes. Ianto rubbed his eyes and nodded. "Absence of light, pressure and sound. Was there anything you noticed when the aliens began to come through?"

Ianto closed his eyes as he tried to concentrate. "No, sorry. I banged my head when the pressure stopped. By the time I turned to look, the portal was closed and the three aliens were crouched around the room." Rob nodded and stifled a sigh.

"Listen, this isn't helping," Jack said. "Todd, you're on watch, but I want you to rest if you can. Just make sure that you're close enough to hear the alarms if they go off. I think the rest of us need to crash for a while if we're going to be of any use." The others nodded and Todd sat up a little straighter. "Keep your coms close, wherever you are. If an alarm goes off, I want to know about it." He stood and stretched.

"I'll be up for a bit myself," Julia said. "I want to write this up so everyone can look over it. It might give us some ideas." Jack nodded tiredly. Ianto stood up and leaned on the back of his chair. He then looked over at Jack, who was looking about the same as he felt.

"Heading downstairs?" He asked with a tilt of his head. Jack nodded and followed Ianto out the door. Instead of taking a left out of the corridor which would have led back to the main Hub area, they turned right. Julia stared after them curiously for a moment.

Rob leaned over her shoulder as he gathered the empty mugs. "Down to the lair they go," he murmured. She twitched. "Level 16."

She turned to look at him. "And how do you know that?" She asked him. Rob just smiled and turned away.

"I deal with Torchwood security," he said simply. He brought the mugs over to the sink in the kitchenette and dumped them into the basin.

"And what's down there?" She asked him.

Rob shrugged. "A place to sleep, one would imagine. I don't pry into those sorts of things." He slanted a glance in her direction and saw the faint flush as his comment hit home. "And it beats Jack's usual place." She brought her head up and looked at him. "And no, I'm not going to tell you where that is, either." Rob knew she'd have a field day if she realized he was sleeping under his office in what amounted to an army camp bed.

He left her sitting at the table by herself as he went to find a place to crash for a few hours. They had several temporary rooms on the fourth level and he went down to sleep in one of those. He felt a mild pang of remorse for picking on Julia, but he did think she needed to back off a bit. He chose a room next to the one Sian was staying in and as he lay down he could hear the faint murmurs of voices as Sherry talked with her. He closed his eyes and tried to use an old technique to calm his mind of all the chaotic thoughts dealing with aliens and their investigation so he could sleep.


	61. Chapter 61

Ianto sighed as they finally reached the level of his flat. "I think it would have been faster to walk back to the other place," he said over his shoulder as he opened the door and stepped inside. The lights came on automatically as he did and he stepped aside to let Jack pass. Jack chuckled ruefully in response.

"Probably," he noted. He kept on walking through the makeshift living area and past the bookcases to the bed. He pulled off his braces and sat down on the bed with a sigh. "Damn, I'm tired."

"Make any progress on the Kralyro artifact?" Ianto asked as he followed Jack. Jack shrugged. "We can take a look at it later." He took off his jacket and hung it up on the tailor's stand before turning to face Jack. "We will come up with a solution, Jack. We always do."

"Yeah, I know," Jack said tiredly. "I just wish it was easier sometimes." A low chuckle met his comment and he looked up from the act of untying his boots. Ianto had removed his tie and cufflinks, which he set on top of the dresser. He undid the buttons of his shirt and hung that up as well. Toeing his shoes off, he sighed.

"If it were easy, everyone would do it," Ianto said and Jack snorted in response. He stood up and picked up his boots, putting them off to one side and out of the way before undoing his shirt and tossing it over the back of a chair. Ianto sighed as the trousers followed immediately after, leaving Jack in just his vest and boxers. Jack crawled onto the bed and lay on his side, watching as Ianto finished undressing.

Ianto walked over to where Jack had carelessly discarded his clothes and folded them neatly.

"You don't have to do that," Jack observed.

"I do. You don't have any others down here," Ianto said. "So unless you wish to shock the ladies, you'll have to wear that back upstairs to change."

"Oh," Jack said. He was resting his head on one crooked arm that was braced against the pillow as he watched Ianto move around the room. Ianto moved back to his wardrobe and carefully undressed, hanging each article of clothing up as he went. Eventually he was left in his briefs and he walked over to the bed.

"I'm going downstairs to wash up first," he informed Jack. He grabbed his robe and padded out of the room. Jack let his head fall to the mattress and he closed his eyes. He pulled Ianto's pillow towards him and he could smell his scent on it. Resting his cheek on it, he smiled.

Ianto didn't take too long to wash up, but by the time he came back, Jack was sound asleep. He smiled at the man on the bed until he realized that Jack was hogging both of the pillows. He sat down on the bed and tried to pry the one in Jack's arms out, but couldn't seem to do it. So instead he tugged the one out from underneath the back of Jack's head. Jack only rolled forward so that he was fully on the other one. He also seemed to take up most of the bed.

Ianto sighed as he looked at Jack, who was now sprawled on his stomach on top of the pillow. The rest of his body took up the bed and Ianto tried to figure out how he was going to even get a portion of it to sleep on. He contemplated sleeping on the sofa for a moment, but the idea of the wonky spring digging into his back was not appealing.

"You know Jack, for a man who spent most of his time on earth on an Army camp bed, you certainly know how to spread out," Ianto murmured ruefully. He worked his way onto the edge, carefully shoving Jack back to get some more room. Jack seemed like a lead weight and didn't budge. So Ianto finally had to settle for what he had. He closed his eyes and ignored the light. Eventually when he didn't move, they slowly began to dim. Jack wrapped his arm around Ianto and pulled him closer and Ianto leaned back into his embrace. He fell asleep not too long after, lulled by the sounds of Jack's deep breathing behind him.

For once the Rift left everyone alone, allowing them time to rest. When Ianto woke several hours later, it was to find himself with his head cushioned in the hollow of Jack's shoulder. Jack was still out cold, which was surprising. Ianto snuggled closer and closed his eyes. The beating of Jack's heart was a comforting sound. He smiled and lightly passed his fingers over Jack's chest and down his torso to rest on his stomach. He drifted in and out of consciousness for a while, enjoying the quiet.

The next time he awoke, the lighting was set to a low setting and he was lying on his back. He turned his head and saw that Jack was leaning on his elbow again and had obviously been watching him sleep.

"Hey," Jack said softly, a smile tugging on his lips.

"Mmmm," Ianto said lazily. He stretched and Jack's gaze traveled over him before returning back to his face. Ianto reached up and pulled Jack down for a kiss. "How long have you been awake?" He asked, his lips brushing against Jack's.

"Not too long," Jack replied. He smiled down at Ianto. "Shall we go find out what's going on?"

"Might as well," Ianto agreed. He stretched again. Jack pulled back and climbed out of the bed. "Time for a shower." Jack looked up from where he was picking up his robe from the floor and his smile widened.

"Oh, I think there's time for that," Jack agreed. Ianto chuckled. Jack handed Ianto his robe and together they made their way downstairs to the showers. They didn't linger too long, though Jack did take advantage of the time they did have by making sure that Ianto was as clean as possible. When he tried for more, Ianto batted his hands away.

"Oi, work to do!" Ianto protested. He had to rewrap the towel around his waist after Jack tried to remove it for the third time as he was shaving. "Stop it or I'm going to cut myself."

Jack leaned against the wall and watched Ianto shave. "I'm so glad I don't have to do that," he commented. Ianto just shot him an annoyed glance as he continued to pull the razor across his face.

"Go ahead, gloat," Ianto muttered. Jack chuckled.

"Well, there were some advantages to growing up in the 51st century," Jack commented. He crossed his arms and grinned at Ianto. "But there were disadvantages as well."

"Oh?" Ianto asked, not looking at Jack. He was peering into the mirror to see if he missed anything. "And what's that?" He wasn't aware of Jack moving behind him until he felt Jack's arms around his waist and met the reflection of his eyes in the mirror.

"It didn't have you," Jack said softly. He stared into the mirror at Ianto for a long moment. "Definitely a disadvantage."

Ianto looked down at the sink, unable to meet Jack's gaze any longer. He busied himself with cleaning the razor and drying it on the hand towel he had draped over the side. "Is it now?" He closed his eyes as he felt lips caress his shoulder. They traveled up his neck to his ear.

"Yes," Jack breathed. "It is." They stood like that for a minute or two before Jack gave him another tight squeeze before letting him go. "Done?"

"Yes, quite," Ianto said. He looked up to see Jack was smiling at him. He nodded at Jack and took the proffered robe. Pulling off the towel, he hung it up to dry. "Time to get dressed." Jack sighed and nodded. There would be no time for them to have fun, not with everything going on. He followed Ianto back up the stairs and into their room. He smiled as he closed the door behind him. There he went again, he reflected to himself as he watched Ianto head to the bedroom to get dressed. Thinking in terms of 'them' again. He grinned to himself in the empty room. He liked the idea.

By the time Jack came past the bookcases, Ianto was half dressed. He was just pulling on his trousers and was reaching for a shirt. Jack walked over to the chair with his clothes and looked down with a sigh.

"You'll have to wear those until you get upstairs. I'm afraid you used up everything you have down here," Ianto informed him. He did toss Jack some clean briefs. Jack wrinkled his nose at them, but put them on nonetheless. They would have to do until he could change. He pulled on his trousers and shirt, which didn't look too wrinkled thanks to Ianto's insistence earlier in folding them over the chair. They finished dressing in silence.


	62. Chapter 62

They didn't speak much as they headed upstairs to see what was going on. Ianto was surprised to see that the Hub was quiet. Todd was asleep on the battered sofa, his glasses askew on his face. Ianto smiled as he reached down and gently removed the glasses from Todd's face before they got damaged. He folded them and placed them on the coffee table in front of the sofa. They were the first ones up, apparently.

Jack headed to his office to change and Ianto got the coffee started. As the coffee brewed he looked around the room. While it had changed over the years due to necessity (getting blown up did require major redecorating, as he knew well,) it was nice that it still felt like home to him. His gaze moved over the wall that they had had to rebuild after the blast, and he smiled as he remembered Gwen's gasp of delight that the outer wall had remained standing. The one with Tosh's drawing on it.

He turned away with a satisfied nod. Moving back into the kitchenette, he pulled out the sandwiches from several nights before when they had abandoned dinner to go to the pub. The sandwiches didn't seem like they had gone off, so he looked through the selection and pulled a couple out for them to eat. When he closed the door, Jack was standing there leaning on the counter.

"Hungry?" Ianto asked and Jack nodded. Ianto handed him the sandwiches so he could pick one before turning to the coffee machine and pouring them each a large mug of coffee. By silent agreement Ianto nodded when Jack indicated the playroom. They moved over to sit on several of the crates to eat. Ianto looked at the device and nodded.

"You've made good progress," he said as he wiped the last of the crumbs from his lap. Jack looked over to the artifact and nodded. "Still wish we could get something off the translator, though."

"It's had another day to work, maybe its a little closer to deciphering it," Jack suggested. Ianto only shrugged and sipped from his mug.

"Back to work already?" Julia had returned and had paused as she listened to them talk.

"Almost," Ianto said. "There are some spare sandwiches and the extra pizza in the fridge if you're hungry. Also, fresh coffee." Julia shook her head.

"It's tea for me," she said. She waved him back down when he went to get up. "Don't bother, I can make it myself." He subsided back down again and looked at Jack.

"Time's a wasting," he said with a nod towards their puzzle. Jack nodded and got up. Handing his discarded wrapper to Ianto, he stood with his hands on his hips. Definitely time to get to work.

Rob was the next to awake and come up to work, having showered and changed into a spare set of clothes he had on hand. He logged into his computer and then wandered over to where Jack and Ianto were working together. He had a mug in his hand.

"Any idea what it is yet?" Rob asked. He acknowledged Jack's smile with a nod as he watched them work. Ianto shrugged and handed yet another piece to Jack who looked at the drawing, smiled and walked around the center piece until he found the place he wanted to put it. Rob could see him grin as it clicked into place. "Hopefully you'll figure it out before you finish it and the thing ends up being a nuclear bomb or something."

"Oh you have the cheeriest thoughts, don't you?" Jack said to him. He saw Ianto chuckling and he shook his head. "You're just as bad you know," he accused the other man who leaned on the other half of the artifact and grinned at him.

"Thank you," Ianto said. "I consider it a complement to be compared with Rob." Rob gave him a nod and they shared a grin. Jack turned away to the box next to him with a mutter. Julia had wandered over to her desk where she kept them all under a watchful eye. When Todd woke up she insisted he go downstairs and take a proper shower to freshen up. Jack watched her pester him down the stairs and chuckled.

"Julia is in mother hen mode," he whispered to the other men. "Beware!"

"I heard that!" Julia said as she returned. Jack looked startled, because he had deliberately tried to keep his voice down. "Sound travels in this place, Captain."

"Uh oh," Rob said. He picked up his mug and high tailed it over to his computer to get some work done. The team worked on their own projects, deeply absorbed in whatever they were doing. Todd looked up as a low alarm went off and everyone stopped and turned towards his display.

"Weevils,' he said quietly and it seemed the room let out a collective sigh of relief.

"How many?" Jack asked. He paused in the act of taking another piece from Ianto.

"Two," Todd said. He tapped on the keyboard and pulled up the aerial map of Cardiff for the location. He looked at Jack. "Who do you want to go?"

"I'll do it," Rob said. Ianto handed the piece to Jack and headed over to where Rob was standing.

"I'll go with you. Better with two, after all," Ianto said. Rob smiled and nodded. Ianto reached and grabbed for his com which he had put down on one of the desks. "We're off then."

"Be careful!" Julia said from where she sat. The two men exchanged a look as they headed out the door to the UAV, and Julia swore she heard one of them mutter something. She stood up and walked over to where Jack was standing. "Did one of them just say 'yes, mother'?" She asked him. Jack shrugged and turned away to hide a smile. She sighed and went back to her desk.

Ianto climbed into the passenger side of the UAV and strapped himself into the seat. Rob started the vehicle and they were moving off into the streets of Cardiff. Ianto pulled up the tactical display which was tied into the Hub's mainframe.

"Here," he said. He put the overlay over the windscreen and indicated the area with his finger. "Not too far, actually." Rob glanced over to where he indicated and nodded in agreement. "What do you use to subdue Weevils these days?"

"The usual," Rob said as he drove. "We've got spray to subdue them in the back," he said, indicating with his head towards the cavernous area behind them. "Probably a different formula than what you've used, but still effective. " He took a turn and followed the map to the disturbance. They sat for several minutes in silence while he drove.

Ianto looked over at him. "Still bothered about not finding anything at the two scenes this morning?"

Rob nodded and didn't say anything. Ianto looked away. "I hate it when I have those kinds of hunches that don't pan out."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Rob said glumly. They finally reached the location of the disturbance, which was in a park. Someone had complained about people going through the garbage cans in the park and making a mess. The Hub systems had tagged two life readings are Weevils, so the two men got out, prepped for capture and headed into the park. All was quiet and they paused and looked around.

"Have they gone?" Rob asked. Ianto pulled a small screen display out of his pocket and tapped it. Turning around he got a lock on a signal and pointed.

"This way," he said. He led the way down the pathway and they came to a small brook which had a bridge over it. The two men paused as they listened. There was the distinctive sound of something snuffling close by. Rob indicated that they should split on either side of the pathway and circle to the bottom of the bridge where it curved over the edge of the bank. Ianto nodded and pocketed the display. Picking up the spray, he edged right while Rob went left.

It was dim under the bridge, but Ianto caught the distinct movement of a leg in a boiler suit as the Weevil attempted to hide. It seemed to be eating something it had found in the bin. He held himself ready as Rob moved in. The minute the Weevil noticed them, it tried to break free and rush past Ianto as Rob approached.

"Oh, no you don't," Ianto said. He had the spray ready and hit it in the face as it leapt out of its hiding place under the bridge. The Weevil cried out and scrubbed at its face while Rob picked his way through the mud to cuff it. Together they dragged it up the bank before Ianto got the hood out of his pocket and put it over the Weevil's head.

"One down, one to go," Rob said. "I'll take this one back to the UAV and we can look for the other one." Ianto nodded and as Rob picked up the Weevil and carried it down the path, he began looking for the second one. He turned around in a circle, trying to pinpoint it. He frowned when he couldn't find it. Tapping his com, he called back to the Hub.

"Todd? Are you still getting a reading on the second one?" Ianto asked.

"Yup, still in the same place," Todd replied. Ianto started walking along the path, trying to locate it.

"I'm not getting a signal here. Any way of pinpointing it better?" Ianto asked.

"Keep the way you're going, Ianto," Todd told him. "You're headed straight for it." Ianto was moving to the edge of the park where the garden equipment was stored. There was a large shed against the fence and he cautiously moved towards that.

Back in the Hub Jack paused as he listened to the conversation. He walked over to Todd's console to look over his shoulder. "Problem?" He watched the screen showing the two operatives and the two Weevils. It looked like they had bagged one, since Rob's signature was with that. His eyes moved over to the other end of the screen where he could see Ianto's dot moving closer to the second Weevil's hiding place.

"Don't think so," Todd said as he watched the screen. "Just not showing up on the local portable display." Jack folded his arms and stayed where he was. He wanted to tell Ianto to be careful, but he bit his tongue. Ianto had been doing this long enough to know what he was doing.

In the park, Ianto moved cautiously. "Might be the metal here causing interference. The pickup on this scanner can't be that strong after all." He walked around to the left to make sure it wasn't behind the shed. Peering into the gap, he didn't see anything and he paused to listen. Nothing. He moved around to the other side.

There was a padlock on the shed, so Ianto knew it couldn't be in there. He went around to the other side. There was some junk piled up against the right hand side of the shed.

"Ianto, you're practically on top of it," Todd informed him. He didn't reply. He didn't want to give away where he was.

He moved to the right. A moment later, the pile of junk exploded as the Weevil jumped out at him. He blocked the slash of its clawed hand with his arm and kicked out at the Weevil's stomach to push it back. Jack listened tensely as he heard the struggle through Ianto's open com. The Weevil made a second attempt, and this time Ianto did a roundhouse kick which knocked it to the ground. He grunted with the impact.

Jack bit his lip but said nothing. Julia came over to where the two men were standing and watched them both as they listened to the battle between Ianto and the Weevil.

"Rob?" Jack finally asked.

"On my way," Rob panted. He was running down the path in the direction of the racket. He turned the corner just in time to see Ianto knock the Weevil down with his kick. Rushing over, he pulled out his spray, using it to subdue the Weevil.

"Thanks," Ianto said. He leaned his hands on his knees as he tried to get his breath back. "Feisty bugger." He pulled the cuffs out of his jacket pocket and tossed them to Rob. "We're all set here," Ianto said to the rest of the team. "Just have to lug Vicky back to the UAV."

"Vicky, huh?" Jack grinned. "That her name?"

"Uh huh," Ianto grunted as he picked up the arms while Rob got the feet.

"You wouldn't be disparaging a certain monarch with that name, would you?" Jack asked in amusement. Todd and Julia shared a mystified look with one another. "After all, she was our patron."

"Absolutely not," Ianto said with an indignant tone in his voice. "Though her friend does go by the name of Betsy, so who knows?" Jack laughed out loud as he heard the thump of a body being shoved into the back of the UAV.

"Come on home, boys," Jack told the two men. "We'll have a couple of nice warm cells for them ready when you get here."


	63. Chapter 63

Rob acknowledged Jack's comment and the coms went quiet as they made their way back to the Hub with their cargo. Jack stayed where he was, but Julia noted he looked far more relaxed now that the possible danger was over. Jack went down to the holding area to prep the vaults for their return and was there to help then haul the two Weevils out of the UAV and down to the cells. The three men walked back up to the main area when they finished and paused in the doorway.

Sian Davies had emerged from her room and was sitting with Julia on the sofa in the Hub. She looked up apprehensively as the three men entered the room. Ianto smiled at her and made his way over to where she was sitting.

"Hello, Sian." He said with a gentle smile. "How are you doing?"

"A bit overwhelmed, to be honest," she admitted. She was sitting holding a cup of coffee in her hand and looked up at the other two men who had followed Ianto over.

"Mrs Davies, Captain Jack Harkness," Jack said with a nod. Sian smiled tentatively. "I see you've met Julia, and you already know Ianto. This is another member of my team, Rob Mullen." Rob gave her a smile before walking over to the coffee machine to get a cup of coffee. Ianto followed him and made them both a cup.

"Captain, do you know who it is that is causing this?" Sian asked anxiously. She watched as Ianto handed Jack a cup of coffee and he pulled up a stool to sit down opposite the sofa. Ianto gave her a smile before turning back to Rob and the two men headed over to a computer console to file their report.

"Who specifically? No, unfortunately, I don't. But we're working on it," Jack assured her. She stared around the space as Sherry came out of the archives and headed over to them. She smiled at the other young woman who seemed to represent a bit of normalcy in this utterly unreal situation she was in.

"Do you know how long I'll have to stay here?" Sian asked him. He stared at her for a moment, looking into the large eyes in the beautiful heart-shaped face.

"Until we catch them. We're getting close, I can feel it." Jack said with a note of conviction in his voice. "We would like you to be as comfortable as possible while you're here, so please let us know if you need anything," he told her. Rob motioned to Sherry and she hurried over. After speaking with him for a few minutes, she went under one of the arches and came back with a bag in her hands. She carried it over to the group and Sian gasped softly.

"Is that my crochet bag?" She asked. Sherry nodded.

"Yes, Rob picked it up. He thought you might want to have it to work on," Sherry said with a smile. Sian gratefully took the bag from her and held it to her chest.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"Mrs. Davies," Jack said with a charming smile that was designed to make her relax. "It's probably best if you spend most of the time in your room. Less confusing than watching everything that goes on up here. But if there's anything you need, please let Sherry know and she'll get it for you."

"Thank you," Sian said softly. She put down her empty coffee cup, thanked Julia for her time and got up from the sofa. "Perhaps it's best if I could go back there now, then. I have my blanket here to keep me busy," she said with a smile. Jack nodded and Sherry led her back downstairs and away from the group in the Hub.

"So, what do you think, Jules?" Jack asked the doctor.

"She'll be fine," Julia said with a smile. "A little shaken up, but she's young." Jack nodded.

"Now if we can only find an answer," he said softly. She could see that he was worried. "We've got too many open directions we can head in and no clear route to take."

"Then we keep on trying," she said in reply. "Eventually, one of the routes will make itself known and that's the one we'll take." Jack looked at her for a long moment.

"Yeah, as long as it makes itself known before it's too late," he said grimly. He shook his head to clear the thoughts out of his head and got up, kicking the stool back over to the table behind him. "Back to work." He wandered back over to where Todd was working. "Anything on that translation yet?"

Todd sighed and shook his head. "It keeps on spitting out gibberish. I don't get it."

"Let me see," Jack asked him. Todd shrugged and pulled up the program, then had it print out the latest effort. The sound of the printer working brought Ianto over from where he had been standing.

"Anything?" Ianto asked. He peered at the paper as it came out.

"We'll see in a minute," Jack said. He waited for Ianto to retrieve the sheet and bring it over. "Let's see what we got." He took the plastic sheet from Ianto, placed it down on the table and frowned.

"Looks like gibberish to me," Ianto said. He tilted his head to one side as he looked more closely and shrugged. Todd nodded in agreement.

Jack stared at the document and his jaw dropped.

"What?" Ianto asked him, his voice filled with concern. "Does this actually mean something to you?" Dumbly, Jack nodded. Ianto looked down at the sheet which was covered with squiggles. "How could it possibly?"

Jack peered closely at the document. "Because I've been around the block a few times," he said in reply. He turned the paper in a 45 degree angle. "Aha!" His shout brought the attention of the rest of the team over to where the three men were standing.

"What is it?" Julia asked as she peered around Ianto to look at the paper. He obligingly moved out of the way since the document itself was meaningless to him.

Jack shook his head and began to laugh. The rest of the them looked at one another in confusion before waiting for him to reply. "I feel so stupid," Jack said. He had to lean on the desk because he was laughing so hard.

Ianto bit his tongue, not wanting to say the obvious. Rob shook his head. "Care to share with the rest of us?"

Jack eventually stopped laughing. "I can read this script." He said as a way of explanation. "I wish you had said something before this, Todd. I might have been able to do this earlier."

"Who knew?" Todd said. To him it looked like a mess and not something easily read. "And how can you read this?"

"It's pre-cataclysmic Aeranian script," Jack said absently, his finger tracing a convoluted pathway through the document. "And I can read it because I studied it in school."

"That must have been the class I skipped, right after Welsh in the afternoons," Ianto muttered drily. Jack smiled.

"Hush you," Jack glanced up at him before returning to the document in front of him. "And shame on you for skipping Welsh class." Ianto didn't respond to his chastisement.

"I don't get it," Todd said as he shook his head. "Why would the translator program translate an alien script into another alien script?"

"Intermediary translation?" Rob hazarded.

"The translation program was taken from an alien race," Ianto pointed out. "Tosh spent some time getting it to spit out proper English, but it was quirky at times. Maybe this was the next best language for the concepts in the panel."

"Well?" Julia asked as she looked at Jack. "Can you tell us what it says?"

"It's going to take me some time," Jack admitted. "It has been a while." He was still tracing the rolling swirls with his finger. "This is complicated."

"You're telling me," Ianto said with a sigh. "All right, who's up for coffee?" He figured he might as well do something constructive with his time. Everyone was interested, so he went over to the kitchen and made a large pot. He brought the tray back to team where they all waited around Jack with expectant expressions. Jack absently held out his hand as Ianto came close and Ianto handed the cup to him, fitting it into his hand.

"Thanks," Jack said without looking up. Everyone waited expectantly and Jack's shoulders twitched. "Would everyone please stop staring at me?" Reluctantly, they all backed away from him to give him some space. "Thank you."


	64. Chapter 64

Todd turned back to his console and tried to find something interesting to distract him. Rob went back to what he was doing leaving Ianto to sit on the sofa and just watch Jack. Julia smiled and went back to her journal that she had been reading. Jack stared down at the document, his eyes tracing the pathways over and over again. Ianto fought the urge to go find his stopwatch. He smiled. Jack would kill him if he did that. He stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankles. After a while, Rob came over and sat next to Ianto.

"What do you think it says?" Rob asked Ianto.

"Oh, probably something stupid, like 'this end up' or 'careful, contents under pressure'," Ianto said drily.

"I heard that," Jack said from where he was standing. Ianto chuckled.

"You were meant to," he said with a cheeky grin. Jack looked up at him and pretended to scowl before returning his attention back to the document in his hands. Ianto let his eyes travel all over Jack.

"Stop that," Jack said.

"Didn't say a word," Ianto said and looked innocently at Rob, who felt he had missed something that had just happened. Ianto grinned. He leaned back and just watched as Jack slowly turned the document again. Jack looked up and asked Todd for a blank piece and a stylus. Todd handed them to him and Jack started writing something down. Ianto fought the urge to get up and look over his shoulder. It was probably in yet another alien language. Jack used to do that to him in the past – take notes in some language that was impossible to decipher. Ianto had gotten around that usually by using the translation program and would write up the reports in Welsh as retaliation. It became a bit of a challenge for them both.

Jack looked up at him and smiled. Ianto lifted an enquiring eyebrow. "Almost finished."

"And?" Ianto asked. Jack's smile widened as he noticed Ianto was tapping his foot impatiently.

"When I'm ready," Jack said. He went back to what he was doing.

Ianto sighed and looked at Rob. "I hate when he's like this."

"Oh, you mean that smug look he gets when he knows something that no one else does?" Rob asked. Rob saw with amusement that Jack was paying more attention to what they were saying than the document in front of him.

"Yeah, that," Ianto said with a nod.

"Infuriating, isn't it?" Julia said from where she said. Jack just glanced over at her and shook his head before looking down again.

"Very," Ianto agreed.

"You know, the more you distract me, the longer this is going to take," Jack warned them.

"Right then," Ianto said. "Let's do it some more." Jack glared at him and he smiled again.

"You behave, Mr. Jones, or you are so going to get it," he threatened the younger man. Ianto's grin widened.

"Promise?" Ianto asked with a saucy wink. Rob just shook his head.

"Careful Ianto, remember what happened the last time?" Rob asked him and Ianto gave him an odd look. Rob looked over to the stairs to Jack's office and back. Ianto took his meaning and nodded.

"Oh, right." Ianto responded. Jack looked suspiciously from one man to the other.

"All right, what are you two talking about?" Jack demanded. "What last time?"

"Don't know what you're talking about Jack," Ianto said blithely. Rob chuckled and stood up. He leaned towards Ianto and said something in a low voice that made the other man chuckle. Then he went back to work, whistling aimlessly as he passed Jack. Jack watched with his eyes narrowed before looking back at Ianto. The other man gave him a bland look.

"I hate when you do that," he muttered and put his head down. Ianto just let out a low chuckle which reverberated off the wall.

"I should send you to your room," Jack said.

"Which one?" Ianto asked him with that smile which obviously held some secret meaning for Jack alone. Jack looked up at him and grinned.

Julia had been watching this byplay over the top of her journal which she really hadn't been reading for a while now. Their playfulness with one another was something she hadn't seen before. Yes, she had watched Jack tease the other team members from time to time, but they never really responded with the sort of banter like Ianto did. The fact that Rob had joined in had been surprising as well. She pursed her lips thoughtfully as she considered the man on the sofa. Yes, Ianto Jones had certainly made an impression on the team.

Jack finally stood up straight and stretched. He looked over at Ianto.

"Can it help us?" Ianto asked quietly, all joking set aside now that Jack had finished. Jack stared at him for a long moment before sighing.

"Possibly," he said with a nod. Todd turned around, having abandoned his pretense of doing work.

"What is it?" He asked Jack. Jack looked at him.

"Well, I can tell you it's not a toilet," he began with a grin. He watched as Rob turned around at the sound of his voice and walked back over. "Nor is it a nuclear warhead."

"That's a relief," Rob said with a smile. "I hate the thought of glowing."

"So?" Julia prompted as she put down her journal and stood up. "Are you going to tell us what it is, rather than what it is not?"

Jack turned to look at her. "Jules, it's right up your alley," he said with a smile. She smiled back at him.

"Medical device?" She asked. He inclined his head and she swiveled around to look at the device which now took up the majority of the playroom. "Please continue, Jack." She walked towards the device and peered closer. Up until now it hadn't held much interest to her. She moved around in a circle, looking at the interconnecting parts.

"The panel on the side is actually a commission plate," Jack explained. "Something that most races will put on ships when they're built. " He looked around at the group who were paying close attention. "In addition to listing the shipyard and name, the Kralyro also tend to give long winded explanations, which is why it took me so long to decipher it. That, plus my pre-cataclysmic Aeranian is a bit rusty, to say the least." Jack moved away from the table and over to the artifact, standing opposite Julia.

"I was right about one thing, though. This isn't the whole ship. Which is unfortunate, because it means that we have the nose, but not the means to power it," Jack said.

"So what good does it do for us?" Rob asked. He leaned against one of the support beams and crossed his arms.

"Two things," Jack said as he put his hand on the top of the structure. "One, we have probably the most important part of the ship which contains the delineated proto- generator and navigational console." He looked around and noticed that they were all giving him blank looks. "The Kralyro travel in space and time by leapfrogging. This allows them to do that."

"So?" Ianto asked as he waited for Jack to continue.

"So," Jack echoed him. "It can be used to hold open a portal when it occurs and redirect the other side." Ianto nodded slowly as he thought about what Jack just said.

"You said it did two things," Rob said as he nodded. "You mentioned one. What's the other one?"

"I mentioned the Kralyro had a leapfrog technology," Jack went on to answer Rob's question. "What they essentially do is to open a hole, reach out and place their metaphorical hands at a point in time and then pulled themselves in that direction, jumping over the point they choose to the one after." He turned around to see if the team was following. All of them waited for him to continue. "We can use that to our advantage."

"How?" Julia asked.

"By allowing us to pull the assassins into this timeline," Jack said with a grim smile. "A portal opens, we leapfrog over the Thal'dor's planet to where they are and pull."

"And what does that get us?" Rob asked. Jack turned to stare at him. "One or two prisoners who are now trapped here with us? What do we do with them then?"

"We talk to them," Jack said. He looked down at the device under his hands. "It's not perfect, but it can get us the next step further towards stopping this."

"Wouldn't it be better to get the person who commissioned the assassination in the first place?" Julia asked. "After all, the assassin is just the middle man in all this." Jack looked up again.

"True, but if they can lead us to the contract holder, we can do something about it. At the very least, we have the assassin here where they can't open another portal," Jack said. He smiled and Julia turned away. It wasn't a very nice smile.


	65. Chapter 65

"But we seem to have a problem," Ianto said as he walked over to the device and looked at it. Jack looked at him. "We don't have a power source." Jack nodded.

"No, that's true. But I think we may have something in the archives that we might be able to use. If we do, then we can get this running, and I can use my vortex manipulator to control it," Jack said. Ianto nodded.

"What does it need for power?" He asked. Jack looked down at it for a moment.

"Something that emits a harmonic oscillation," Jack said. Ianto put his hand on the back of his neck as he thought.

"That shouldn't prove too difficult, providing there's been good classification," he murmured to himself. He walked past Jack over to the spare console and logged in. Pulling up the massive archives database, he started searching. Jack watched as he got down to the search and he smiled. With Ianto on the case, if there was something there that they could use, he would find it. He turned back to the device and met Julia's gaze.

"And you think we can stop it with this?" She asked. He nodded. "I certainly hope you're right." She looked down at the mass of pipes, cables and antennas that were sticking out of the artifact in front of her. "This was part of a medical ship?"

"Yes," Jack said with a nod. "I guess I should have recognized it, since there are distinct color classifications with shipbuilding in terms of usage. But it's been a while," he admitted with a wry smile.

"So what happened to it?" She wondered. Jack hunkered down and put his hand on the side where it looked like something had been torn off.

"It doesn't look like it had been in a battle," he said. "My guess is a meteorite shower or something which caused it to break apart. "

"Don't you find it disturbing?" She asked and Jack looked up at her with a look of inquiry on his face. "That this thing has been coming through the rift for centuries and most of it that can make it usable shows up right when you need it?"

Jack tilted his head to one side as he considered her question. Then he sighed. "I don't believe in coincidences, Jules. Never have. Everything happens for a reason."

"Kismet?" She asked softly.

"Maybe," Jack said with a nod. "However, only we would be able to do something with this in order to do what we need to do. And even then, we may not have the solution ready in time. But I do believe that it gives us a fighting chance." He stood up again and dusted off his trousers. "At least we have that."

"Indeed," Julia murmured softly. She stared at him thoughtfully for a moment or two before continuing. "And what if it doesn't work?"

He raised his chin up in response. "I'm here to see that it does."

"Oh, I do hope so," Julia responded. "I do indeed." She turned away and walked over to her desk and sat down, lost in thought. Jack stared after her for a moment before turning to where Ianto was standing before he walked up behind him. He stood for a moment, watching as Ianto moved windows about on the display.

"Watched pot and all," Ianto said as he delved into the records, sorting items by known power sources.

"How about the pot calling the kettle black?" Jack asked with a grin. He found it interesting that Ianto had no problem distracting him while he was trying to decipher the script but had a problem with Jack watching over his shoulder while he worked.

Ianto chuckled. "Point taken." He kept on working and ignored Jack's presence behind him for a few moments. "So Jack," he said in an attempt to distract the other man. "What is all this about that pre-cataclysmic Aeranian script you were talking about?"

"What about it?" Jack asked. Ianto could feel Jack's breath against his neck; he was that close to him as Jack looked over his shoulder. It was making him twitchy, but he couldn't really complain after what he had done earlier.

"If that's what pre-cataclysmic script looks like, what's the post-cataclysmic writing look like?" Ianto asked with a smile as he looked over his shoulder. "And what caused the cataclysm in the first place?"

"Ah, now we're talking ancient history," Jack said with a low laugh which made Ianto look at him for a moment.

"It may be your ancient history, but for me it hasn't happened yet," Ianto reminded him. Jack looked thoughtful as he considered Ianto's comment.

"Hmmm, maybe. Maybe not," Jack mused. He moved over to the edge of the console and leaned against it. "The calendars don't exactly mesh, so it's hard to compare them, but if I'm right, the Aeranian cataclysm happens in about…" he looked off into space as he thought. "Eighty? No, that can't be right. Maybe it's one hundred and eighty earth years from now. Massive event. People spoke about it for the rest of eternity."

"What happened?" Ianto asked, his search momentarily forgotten. Jack smiled at him.

"Well, as you can tell from the way they wrote," Jack still had the document in his hand and he waved it about. "They tend to be a bit flowery. And that was their problem. If you think the Kralyro were wordy, the Aeranians had them beat by about ten parsecs when it came to being long-winded.

"Anyhow," Jack continued, unaware that the rest of the staff was listening in on the conversation. "They created this new drive technology that was all the rage. Every race wanted a piece of it, because it cut down travel by a great amount. In fact, I guess that's where the Kralyros got their leapfrog technology from. Huh, hadn't considered that," he shook himself to break out of the reverie. "Anyhow," he repeated. "They couldn't keep up with the demand and started cannibalizing their own planet to get the resources to build the drives. Until the main factory went up on the planet. Boom!" Todd jumped as Jack slapped his hands together. "Place went up like a fireball and the unfortunate thing was that the drive technology was linked, in a somewhat semi organic, hyper aware way. And, being linked, when the factory went up and the control system that built them, they all went." Jack shook his head. "The explosions took out sixteen planets on five systems, wiping out most of the Aeranian race, as well as twenty two ships for three other alien races that had bought the drives for their ships. It was one hell of a mess."

"Wow," Ianto said as he considered Jack's story. "I guess that would be a cataclysm."

"Yeah, the Shadow Proclamation wasn't too pleased at what happened," Jack said with a sigh. He shook himself. "What was the question you asked?" It took Ianto a moment to remember himself.

"Oh, what the post-cataclysmic script looked like," Ianto said. His fingers were poised over the keyboard and he had completely forgotten what he had been looking for. Jack looked down at Ianto's hands and the younger man followed his gaze for a moment as he tried to remember what he had been doing. When he looked up again, he saw from Jack's grin that Jack had deliberately been trying to distract him. And the ploy had worked. Ianto glared at him before turning back to what he was doing and continuing his search for power sources.

"Ah, right," Jack said with a knowing nod. "Well, the post-cataclysmic script is still in use," he said. "And it's a lot shorter since they realized that no one really had the time to read what they said, anyhow." Jack chuckled as he watched Ianto. He felt a bit vindicated for Ianto's earlier teasing. Ianto worked silently for a few more minutes as he tried to ignore Jack's stare as he worked. He glanced up briefly and saw the look of amusement on the other man's face. As their gazes met one another Jack moved around so that he was standing behind Ianto again, just close enough to be a constant annoyance. Ianto tried to ignore him, but the proximity of Jack was getting to him. He could smell his pheromones emanating out in a wave, as well as his body heat, he was that close. It got under Ianto's skin, and he decided some retaliation was in order. He looked around for a source of inspiration for a way to get Jack out of his hair and his gaze fell on Julia, who was sitting off to one side with a medical journal in front of her.

"Julia!" He called out and she looked up at the sound of her name. "Why don't you talk to Jack about the flat he found for me the other night?"

"Oh?" Julia raised an eyebrow. "Did you find something?"

"You bastard," Jack murmured into his ear. Ianto laughed softly in response. They could hear her footsteps as she walked over to where they were standing. Jack put his hands on Ianto's shoulders right at the base of his neck before sliding them upwards and pretending to squeeze Ianto around the neck. "Sometimes, Jones. Just sometimes…" He could feel Ianto's shoulders shaking with laughter.

"So?" Julia asked as she leaned on Ianto's console and smiled. "Did you actually find a place?" Ianto kept his eyes on the screen, but nodded as much as Jack's hands around his neck would allow. "Do tell."'

"I'll let Jack do it, since it was his idea in the first place," Ianto said. His hands flew across the keyboard as he typed, narrowing down the search for more items to compartmentalize. "Besides, I'm working."

Jack sighed and slowly released his grip on Ianto. Though he was sorely tempted, he knew that the rest of the team would frown upon him strangling Ianto right now. "Later," he murmured to Ianto as he turned towards Julia. "It's just a place."

"A place outside of here," she said with a lifted brow.

"Yes," Jack said. Julia looked from him to Ianto who was smiling, then back again.

"Is it nice?" She asked. He nodded. "And does this mean that perhaps you'll actually get out of the Hub on a more regular basis?"

"I might have done had a certain Welshman kept his mouth shut," Jack said with a growl. "Now I'm not too sure at the moment." Ianto grinned at the screen and Julia smiled.

"Oh come now," Julia chided him. "What's wrong in telling me?" He didn't respond to her. "I think it's good for both of you," she said after a moment.

"So do I," Ianto said. Jack turned his head in Ianto's direction and a slight smile curled his lips upwards.

"Oh, you do, do you?" Jack asked. "And what's wrong with just staying here, close to the action?" He put his hands on his hips and waited for Ianto to respond. Ianto was still sifting through the records and he shrugged.

"It grows old," Ianto said simply. "You get comfortable, isolated. Away from being a part of the very people we're here to protect." He sorted the list on the screen once again, narrowing it down some more. He turned towards Jack while the computer was working away and smiled. "And you have the chance of someone walking in on you in an inflagranti delicto situation." Jack chuckled.

"Wouldn't be the first time that had happened, though, would it?" Jack said. Ianto met his gaze and nodded.

"Plus," Ianto said with a glance at Julia. "It doesn't have CCTV, which is a definite plus in my book," he said with a wink in her direction.

"Hey, I kinda like the CCTV stuff," Jack protested with a laugh. Julia just shook her head. For these two, everything seemed to be an innuendo of some kind that bypassed her.

"Oh you do, yeah?" Ianto asked with an arched eyebrow. "See if you can say that after you look at what's in your inbox." Jack just gave him a look. "Go on, you know you want to." Jack looked over to Julia and shrugged.

"Be back in a sec," he said. He took the stairs two at a time up to his office and closed the door. Ianto chuckled and started to print out a short list of documents.

"Was that a distraction?" Julia asked as she indicated the direction Jack had gone with her chin. Ianto slanted a glance at her and smiled. "Seriously, though. He found you a place?"

"Yes, and it's lovely," Ianto said. He leaned on the desktop and lowered his voice. "I'm on your side in this. I think he needs to be cooped up less. But getting him to the point where he thinks it's his idea is a whole different story. He is nothing if not stubborn."

"Ianto!" Jack called out, his voice muffed by the closed door. Ianto turned his head in the direction of Jack's office. "What the hell is this?"

"Hmmm, think it's time to scoot off into the archives. Thought I'd have a bit more of a head start," he said. He tapped the stack of documents on the table to line them up and grinned at Julia. "See you later." Ianto briskly walked down the walkway and through the archway which led down to the basement levels.


	66. Chapter 66

Jack's door swung open and Jack stepped out. He looked around the room. "Where is he?"

"Getting your power source, I believe," Julia said calmly. "Is there something I can help you with?" Jack focused his gaze at her and he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

"No, that's okay." Jack said after a moment. He looked off in the direction of the archway. "How long has he been gone?"

"A bit," Julia said noncommittally. Jack sighed. He looked back at his office and hesitated. Then he tapped his com. "Ianto?" Julia could hear the echo of Jack's voice nearby and she shifted the documents on the desk until she found his com. She held it up and he sighed.

"I am so going to get him," Jack muttered. He went back into his office and closed the door. Julia smiled.

She picked up the empty mugs on Ianto's desk and brought them over to the kitchen area. Rob looked over at her.

"What was all that about?" He asked. She shrugged. He shook his head and went back to work.

Another alarm went off with a report of some space junk that had dumped itself into the end of the bay. Jack poked his head out of the office.

"Need me for this?" He asked. Rob shook his head and took Todd with him. Julia sighed and went back to her report that she needed to do for a recent autopsy, so she kept on typing. The two men were gone for three quarters of an hour before they returned with a very wet alien artifact covered in seaweed. Once Jack ascertained it wasn't Kralyro in nature, he lost interest in it and told them to box it up.

He paced the walkways restlessly, listening to the Myfanwy's call as she glided above him. Every alarm that went off made him tense, and he kept waiting for the next attack to happen. They were so close to a solution that he felt jittery. He turned after pacing again to see Rob watching him.

"What?" He asked the former SAS agent.

"Supposing we get it to work the way you want it to," Rob said. "It's not exactly portable, is it? How do we get them to come to where we can use it effectively?" Jack paused where he stood on the walkway that circled the rift manipulator and he leaned on the railing.

"By using bait," he said calmly.

"Sian Davies," Rob said softly. Jack nodded. "Can we do that and keep her safe?"

"Yes, I believe we can," Jack said. Rob looked at him steadily. "I won't do anything to jeopardize her or her baby, but we may not have much of a choice. I can only assume that the superstructure here will hide her, but there's a possibility it won't. We have to be ready if that is going to happen."

Rob nodded and glanced away as a clatter from the hallway drew his attention. Todd left his station and went through the archway, reappearing a moment later with Ianto and a large cart of components.

"Here are your power sources," Rob said with a nod.

"Maybe," Jack said. He smiled grimly and walked in the direction of the two men who were pushing the large cart across the metal grates. "Need some help, boys?"

"Got it," Ianto said as he pushed from behind. Todd directed the wheels of the cart as they went down the ramp towards the play room. Jack followed behind, his earlier annoyance with Ianto forgotten. Julia stood up and moved away from her console so that they could pass her. Ianto gave her a nod of thanks he pushed the cart further along.

Rob met them on the other side and assisted Todd in getting the cart to move. Together, the three men finally settled it off to the side of the room. Ianto stood up and put his hands on his back. "Whew."

"So," Jack said as he looked at the miscellaneous items on the cart. "What do we have?"

"First batch of potential power sources," Ianto informed him. He pointed to the bottom shelf. "These have some oscillation but seem to have a fusion-fission hybrid sub base in terms of how they work," he said before moving to the second shelf of stacked equipment. "This one has harmonic resonators which I know are not exactly oscillators, but may prove useful.

"The top shelf is a bit more eclectic," Ianto continued. "Crystalline generators." Jack looked at him for a further explanation. "Well, I figure that crystal can resonate. Get enough of them out of these pieces and perhaps we can cobble something together that will create a harmonic resonance that will give you that oscillation you need."

"I like the way you think," Jack said as he picked up a box and looked into it. Light shimmered off of the crystal stuck to the inside of the box. He picked up a small piece of metal and tapped the crystal and a clear tone rang out. "Hmmmm."

"There's more downstairs but I figure rather than bring the whole lot up we should start with this," Ianto said with a satisfied nod. Jack knelt down and started going through the items on the second shelf.

Rob crouched down on the other side of the cart. "How can we help?" He asked Jack. Jack looked up from the circular disk he had been examining and peered between the shelves of the cart at Rob.

"You know how to solder, right?" He asked Rob. Rob nodded. "Okay, get your tools and bring them over here." Jack stood up and looked around. "Todd, pull that table over here," he said, pointing to the table against the wall. Todd went over and dragged it over to the middle of the room. "Good. I'll need some more light," he murmured. Ianto nodded and headed off under the archway off to one side. A moment later they heard something clatter and he came back with a large work light. "Perfect."

"Jack, how dangerous is this to work on here?" Julia asked in concern. The idea of fusion-fission anything made her uneasy. Jack looked up at her and grinned. "Don't you dare try to sweet talk me into thinking it isn't, either."

"Now Julia, would I do that to you?" Jack asked with a charming smile. The whole group replied in the affirmative before he could say more. He looked at each of them in disbelief. "Wow. You are a tough bunch, aren't you?"

"No, we're experienced," Rob said with a grin as he came back with his toolkit. "Don't worry, Julia. I'll keep the Geiger counter out and ready." Julia looked at him seriously and nodded.

"Trust me," Jack said with a winning grin. "Would I do anything dangerous?" He held up a hand. "Let me amend that. Would I do anything dangerous that could hurt you here in the Hub?" He looked around. "Look, we need to get something together, and we don't have much time. Have a little faith, folks."

Julia turned away with a shake of her head. "Fine, but if you end up blowing us sky high, don't say I didn't tell you so." She stalked over to her desk and sat back down. Ianto and Rob exchanged a look and a grin as they started pulling stuff off the cart.

Soon the pile of miscellaneous parts was spread out over the table and Jack nodded as he surveyed it with a look of satisfaction on his face. They finally had a use for some of the flotsam that got dumped on them. Many of these pieces were exactly that – parts of something else that had been ripped away and dumped through the rift to land on their doorstep. Or their archives, to be more precise. He scanned them and looked up at Rob.

"Right; this is what we're going to do," Jack started. "Rob, take that part over there," he indicated a large, bulbous device with his finger. "And crack that open – carefully! You don't want to knick anything that's inside because we're going to need it. But we need it out of that shell. Try the laser scalpel. It should be able to cut through that triplas surface fairly easily." He looked at the rest.

"Ianto, see if you can get the crystals out of these parts here," he said with a nod at the pile off to the side. "I need to figure a way to mount them, but if we can get them out, we can probably make them work." Ianto pulled up a stool and got to work. He picked up a couple of Rob's tools and started prying the crystal mount on the piece he had in his hands. Rob watched him for a moment before heading into the OR and coming out with one of Julia's scalpels. She frowned at him but didn't say anything.

"Todd, I think I'm going to need you to come up with an interface for us to control this. See what you can find on the mainframe or come up with something that will allow us a varied degree of control, as well as on, off and a pull switch," Jack said. Todd met his glance and nodded seriously.

Jack went back to the artifact and started doing a minute examination of the surface. Todd watched them for a moment and then went back to work. He started delving into the systems to look for something that would allow them to control the power source to Jack's specifications. If he couldn't find one he could modify, he was determined to create one of his own.


	67. Chapter 67

Julia sat back and watched them work. She felt helpless, not being able to assist, but this was clearly not a medical issue which needed to be addressed. So she delved into the reports on her alien autopsy, trying to see what other weaknesses that they could exploit. Even if this thing could pull the assassin backwards in time, that didn't mean they wouldn't have to deal with the aliens themselves. So having a way to fight them would be a good option to have. She started exploring the weaknesses as well as what they might have in the archives which could be used in a battle. While the healer in her was averse to taking life, the Torchwood operative knew the necessity of being prepared.

Time passed and Sherry came around to see if anyone was hungry. Jack looked up dazedly when she touched him on the shoulder. "What?" He had been so focused on what he had been doing that he hadn't noticed that she asked the question.

"Would you like me to order some food?" Sherry asked again. Jack smiled up at her. She looked rather wan after the events of the last day.

"Sure, honey. Anything you want." Jack said as he squeezed her hand. "Just let us know when it's here and we'll stop." Sherry tried to smile back but her mouth twitched downwards. He watched her turn away and walk out the door to the tourist centre. When he turned back to the artifact, he met Rob's gaze.

"She'll be okay," Rob said softly. Jack looked down and nodded. Inwardly, he cursed himself for bringing her into this sort of a situation. Ianto shook his head. He knew exactly what Jack was thinking. He avoided Jack's gaze and kept working. He had seen the look of guilt there too many times in the past and they didn't have time to stop and talk about it. He glanced at the entrance where Sherry had gone and resolved to speak with her later.

The three men worked diligently until Sherry called them to eat. Julia had already left to go spend some time with Sian, so the rest of the team disentangled themselves from what they were doing and headed to the board room.

Jack stopped short in the doorway, Rob only plowing into his back. He stared at the repast on the table. A large roast was sitting on a platter in the middle of the table, the steam rising from it in slow moving circles. Covered bowls were scattered around the table, their contents obscured by the steam inside. Rob peered around Jack's shoulder to see what had stopped him in his tracks.

"Wow," Rob said. That got Jack moving and he stepped inside the doorway to the board room. Rob followed after him and made room for Ianto. Ianto took a deep breath and inhaled.

"Wow, is right," he responded. "Sherry, this is lovely." She smiled at Ianto and he went over to give her a hug. She leaned against his chest for a moment before pulling back shyly.

"I was trying to think of something different," she said softly.

"This is fantastic," Jack told her with a smile. "Great idea, hon." He went to the head of the table, noting that there were just enough settings for the team. "Sian isn't joining us?" He asked Sherry.

"No, she wanted to stay in her room," Sherry said. Ianto held a chair out for her and she smiled as she sat down. Rob did the same for Julia, who just arched an eyebrow in his direction, but said nothing. Jack nodded.

"Wow, feels like Christmas or something," he said with a grin as he pulled the platter towards him. "I guess 'Dad' had better start cutting." Ianto had been taking a sip of water from his glass and choked on it. "Okay, not a good choice of phrase," he said with a grin. Ianto grabbed a napkin and brought it to his mouth as he coughed. Rob looked down and tried not to laugh. Jack picked up the knife and serving fork and began to cut.

"It smells wonderful," Julia said to Sherry, who smiled. "Frankly, I've been getting sick of the same old thing. There's only so much one can eat of fast food and take away. This has all the comforts of home," she said as she opened the covered dish nearest and served herself some mashed potatoes before handing the dish over to Rob. Moving onto the next dish, she took some green beans and passed that along as well. Jack smiled but said nothing as he continued cutting in neat, sure strokes.

"It does remind me of home," Sherry said with a smile. Rob looked at her and saw she had a wistful look on her face. Jack passed the platter of cut meat around and they each took a couple of slices to add to their plates.

"Thank you, Sherry. Great idea," Jack told her with a smile from the head of the table. They all started eating and were quiet for most of the meal.

"So," Julia said as she leaned forward. "This flat," she started. Ianto glanced over at Jack and smiled. Julia was like a Rottweiler on the topic and it amused him to see that Jack gave him a look of disgust before turning towards Julia with a neutral expression fixed upon his face.

"Yeah, that flat," Jack said with a sigh. Ianto chuckled and Jack shot him a dirty look. "Listen, Julia, it's a flat. It has furniture, appliances and a very nice sound system. And that's all I'm telling you about it." He picked up his fork and stabbed the meat on his plate. Julia looked down at what he was doing with an amused expression on her face.

"Jack, I think you need to look at the reasons why any conversation like this makes you feel so uncomfortable," Julia said. "Do you feel like being off site would mean a loss of control? Is this all about your ego and a need to dominate the team?" Rob coughed as he listened to her questions and he shared a glance with Todd.

"Wow, I feel like I'm being persecuted," Jack said in a disgusted tone. "Julia, I worry about the idea because as we've seen, things can change in an instant. Being too far away from this place means vital time which may be lost while I make my way back here to deal with whatever it is that has gone wrong. It's a strategic consideration, nothing more."

"Ah," she said with a knowing nod. "I see. And you don't think that we would be able to handle this on our own without you?" She smiled to take the sting out of her words.

"No, I think you're all quite capable or I wouldn't have recruited you in the first place," Jack informed her. "But yes, as the leader, I do feel responsible for what happens to each and every one of you. I failed to anticipate the timeswarm portal and Kip died because of it. It's my fault."

The room echoed with denials as each member of his team tried to refute his statement. Rob stared at Jack for a long moment. He knew exactly where he was coming from. He had felt the same way himself, in the past. At times, he felt powerless to stop what happened and being unable to change it. Knowing how dangerous their jobs were, it was another thing to actually experience the loss of a team member. Rob tried to imagine how many people Jack had seen die over his long life and he shook his head at the thought. It had to be countless. But he still stayed. Still fought. Still nurtured each group, knowing how dangerous their jobs were. He was amazed that Jack was sane after all this time.

"Jack," Julia reached out a hand to cover his where it lay on the table. "It's not your fault," she said quietly. He turned pain-filled eyes in her direction which defied her statement. "None of this is your fault."

"Isn't it?" Jack asked quietly. "If I hadn't recruited Kip, he would still be alive today."

"Jack, you can't spend your life thinking about ifs and might have beens," Julia said softly. "That is counterproductive. Kip knew what he was signing on for. We all did. We do a job here, Jack. A very important one. And that is that we can keep people safe by what we do. And yes, it very well may cost us our lives at some point. But we do it because we have to. It's a calling, perhaps. A calling to protect our people and our world from the extraordinary, with sometimes lethal aliens and technology which end up deposited here on our doorstep.

"Each of us is going to die at some point," she continued in her low, soothing voice, meeting his eyes. "And unfortunately for you, you can't. I don't know what your doctor did to you, and I do feel for you that you have to go through this with people you love. But I for one will be happy to dedicate myself to such a worthy endeavor."

"Even when it kills you," Jack said hoarsely with tears in his eyes. Julia nodded.

"Even when," she acknowledged. "Because, for each of us, what we do here gives our lives meaning. We do what we do because we love it. And because what we do makes a difference. And you, Jack Harkness, are an incredible man."

Jack recoiled at her accolade and shook his head. "No I'm not," he muttered. He dropped his gaze, unable to look her in the eye as he said his next statement. "Sometimes I feel like a monster."

"But you're not," Julia replied. "You are simply a man who has had something terrible happen to him when he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And what do you do now, Jack? You live your life the same as we do. Here in this place. You don't have to be here. You don't have to fight. But you do. And we thank you for it." He looked up, startled by her comment and she met his gaze with a serene expression on her face, and with compassion for him in her eyes. "But this can't be just you, stuck in this place all the time. You will lose focus for why you fight if you can't separate yourself from it occasionally." She could see that she was finally getting through to Jack. "You do yourself a disservice as well as Ianto."

Startled, Jack moved his gaze from Julia to Ianto, who was staring down at his plate and back again. Julia gazed at him steadily for a long moment. With another quick glance at Ianto, he nodded to her.

"You're right. Ianto has been trying to tell me the same thing," he said wryly. "I would have thought you two were in cahoots, but I can see he's just as uncomfortable with this conversation as I am." Jack looked down and started cutting his meat as he thought. "We did have a similar discussion, but it wasn't delivered with your usual forth righteousness." He smiled as he looked up again.

"I do try my best," Julia said in a dry tone which elicited a laugh from the group around the table.

"And I do believe you made your point," Jack said as he inclined his head towards her. He waited a beat for Ianto to look up and they exchanged a glance. Ianto nodded. Rob watched the two men, wondering what was passing between them with only a glance. Jack smiled. He took a bite of the roasted meat and chewed thoughtfully. He then put down his fork, took a sip from the glass in front of him and looked at Julia. "Ianto and I will be moving out to the flat after all this is finished." He could see that the group was startled at his announcement. "Julia, you're right. I definitely need a better perspective, and I am doing you all a disservice by not letting you spread your wings when you're obviously ready to do so.

"We'll take regular shifts with the rest of you," he continued. "You're right, Julia. No one should have to take that on all the time or all by themselves."

"We can set up a regular rotation," Rob suggested. "That way, other than an emergency, people can make plans for when they're off." Jack nodded. It was a good idea.


	68. Chapter 68

"Uncle Jack?" Sherry asked from the end of the table where she sat on the other side of Todd. Jack smiled at her.

"Yes, hon?" He said as he looked up from his food.

"I'd be willing to help out more, too." She said. The rest of the team immediately protested and she looked at them in surprise. "Why not?" She asked reasonably.

"You're too young," Jack said immediately.

"It's too dangerous," Julia cut in. Todd was shaking his head as well.

"You don't have the training," Rob pointed out. Sherry looked from one to the other as each of them gave excuses. Ianto was the only exception. She looked at him.

"Ianto? What do you think?" She asked.

Ianto glanced briefly at Jack before turning his gaze at her. He stared at her for a long moment. "You're an adult. It is your decision what you do with your life," he said quietly. Jack opened his mouth and Ianto forestalled him with a raised hand. "She's the same age as I was when I first joined Torchwood One."

"That was different," Jack said. Ianto gave him a bland look.

"How?" He asked quietly. Jack opened his mouth only shut it again without making a sound. "She's actually older than Lisa was when she joined Torchwood." Sherry looked from one to the other as they continued the conversation.

"Not exactly a good example there, is it?" Jack asked as he gave Ianto a steady look. Ianto inclined his head.

"If you think about the battle of Canary Wharf, it wasn't just the Tower where the battle occurred," Ianto said softly. "People were taken out of their homes to be converted by the Cybermen. People who were living their everyday, ordinary lives that had nothing to do with Torchwood. And when the Earth was stolen, those same everyday people were forced into slavery, destined to be killed by the Daleks. Can you really say that any of us would be safer outside of this place where we work?" Jack stared at him for a long moment before sighing.

"No," he admitted.

"Then it is far better to give someone who is willing, ready and able a chance to be trained, yes?" Ianto asked. Sherry kept on glancing back and forth between the two men. Jack looked from Ianto to his ward and he sighed again.

"Is this really what you want?" He asked her. She nodded. "All right," he began and she squealed. He held up a hand. "I'll think about it. But you have to be trained before I will remotely consider you as holding down a rift shift. Understand?"

"Yes, Uncle Jack," she said as she tried to restrain her excitement.

"I'll be happy to do the training," Rob said. Sherry looked over at him and he smiled from where he sat next to Julia. The doctor didn't look too happy about the decision, but she didn't interrupt. "If you're going to do this, I want you trained properly." Jack nodded his agreement.

"Anyone else have any revelations or embarrassing questions that they need to ask while we're sitting at the table?" Jack asked in a deceptively mild tone. He looked around the table at each of them. "No? There has to be something that we missed in our little group heart to heart this evening." Sherry looked down at the table before looking up again and raising her chin.

"Yes," she said. Jack looked at her and smiled.

"And what would that be?" Jack asked with a twinkle in his eye. He knew what was coming and was looking forward to seeing everyone's reaction.

Sherry took a sip of her drink before she continued. "Ianto, I know." She looked over at Ianto who was giving her a quizzical look.

"Know what?" He asked, mystified. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I know that we're related," she said quietly. Ianto raised an eyebrow and glanced at Jack then back at Sherry. Julia dropped her spoon and it rattled against her saucer. Rob began laughing while Todd just looked at Sherry with his jaw hanging open.

"How long have you known?" Ianto asked her. She shrugged. He looked over at Jack.

"Don't look at me, I didn't say a word," Jack said with his hands upraised. "She figured it out all on her own." He saw that Julia was nodding thoughtfully.

"Well?" Ianto asked his great, great grandniece.

"Well, I've always known about you," Sherry said with a smile. "You are a bit of a family legend. Plus, there is a definite resemblance on the male side of my family." Ianto lowered his head and sighed. "But I didn't know how Uncle Jack figured into it until I met you after you were revived." She looked over at the man sitting at the head of the table and he smiled at her.

Ianto looked up and met her gaze. "And what do you think about all of this?" Sherry smiled at him and he couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Well," she said. She got up from her seat and walked around the table, then came around to where he was seated. He swiveled his chair to look at her and she leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I think it's brilliant," she told him as she stood up. He smiled up at her.

"I think you're pretty brilliant yourself, as well." Ianto said with a smile. Her hair fell into her eyes and she tossed it back in a very familiar gesture. He looked over at Jack and he grinned. Sherry tilted her head.

"What?" She asked them.

"You look a lot like your great, great grandmother when you do that," Ianto informed her. She looked delighted by his comment. "And I know she would be very proud of you." She ducked her head down and blushed. "She would."

"Yeah, she would," Jack said fondly. He tugged on her hand and pulled her over for a hug. "Never could keep those Cooper women down." She wrinkled her nose at him and he laughed before letting her go.

"I should hope not!" She exclaimed and the group laughed as she started cleaning up. Todd got up and helped her carry the dishes out to be washed, leaving the senior staff still at the table. Jack sobered once they were gone.

"I hope we're not making a mistake," he said quietly as he watched the two junior staffers walk down the hallway towards the main Hub area.

"Better she be trained than not," Ianto said. Julia nodded in agreement. She wasn't thrilled with the idea, but it wasn't her place to say, and Ianto did have a point. "Besides she comes from generations of women who have been associated with the rift. The Doctor said so, himself."

Jack smiled. "He did, indeed." He looked at Rob. "Please come up with a gradual training program. Something that will get her used to everything, without throwing her too fast into the swing of things."

"I can do that," Rob said. "I'll run it by you before I start with her." Jack nodded.

"Back to work?" Ianto asked. Jack nodded and the group stood up.

"Yeah, we need to get that power supply up and running. The sooner, the better," Jack said. He ushered them out of the room and back up to the Hub. He hung back with Rob and watched him as they walked along the corridor. Rob had his hands in his pockets and was looking at the floor as they walked.

"How are you doing?" Jack asked him. Rob gave him a surprised look and then glanced over to where Ianto and Julia were discussing other possible ways to test the alien that they hadn't tried already. He shrugged.

"Okay," he said. Jack nodded before reaching out an arm and wrapping it around Rob's shoulders.

"Good. But remember, if you want to talk…" Jack started and trailed off when Rob shook his head.

"I'll be all right," Rob said. "It's just going to take time, Jack. I know that. I've been here before." Rob sighed. "Keeping busy and coming up with a solution is the only thing that's going to help."

Jack nodded. "Then let's do it." They shared a glance before moving on to join the others. Both men threw themselves into their work and were matched in intensity by the work that Ianto and Todd were doing.


	69. Chapter 69

The team worked steadily into the evening, each member focused on the task at hand. At one point, Jack straightened up and looked around.

Todd was at his console, typing furiously. A glance at the screens showed that he had several windows opened at once and was at the point of having a simple prototype control system. Ianto was seated at the table with a growing pile of crystals in all shapes and sizes in front of him. Rob had finished with the first part he had cracked open and had laid the pieces out as he detached them from the device inside. He had moved onto another piece and was carefully using the laser scalpel to open that as well.

Julia pulled back from her perusal of the toxicology report and stretched. Looking at her watch, she shook her head. "Jack, we need a break. People are going to be falling over if we continue like this." Jack nodded in acquiescence. He was getting a headache from focusing so long on what he was doing.

"Julia's right," he said. "Let's pack up and head home." Rob looked up from what he was doing and nodded. "Rob, you and Todd head home. Ianto and I will take the watch tonight." Ianto nodded and went back to what he was doing. Todd blinked a couple of times as he processed what Jack had just said.

"I won't be able to sleep, anyhow, so I'm going to just keep on working," he said. Julia stood up and touched his arm, getting him to look at her.

"No, you're not. You're coming with us," she told him. He opened his mouth to protest and she held up a hand. "We're getting out of here this evening and not thinking of work."

"But..." he began and she shook her head.

"No," she stated firmly. "No buts." She turned her head over to the other man. "Robert, why don't the three of us head out together?" He nodded and reached for the ceiling. They could hear the audible snap of joints popping as he did so, too.

Ianto looked up. "Ouch, that sounds painful," he said. Rob just grinned at him as Julia walked over to where Ianto was sitting.

"And just because you're on watch it doesn't mean you keep on working," she informed him as she reached down and took the pliers out of his hand. "Surely there is something that you and Jack can do to keep yourselves occupied until an alarm goes off." He looked from her to Jack who had a big grin on his face.

"Oh, I definitely have a few ideas for recreational activities," he commented. Ianto rolled his eyes in response, which garnered a chuckle out of Jack. "We still have an issue to discuss regarding an aberration on the internal CCTV network." Rob looked away and stifled a snicker. Julia didn't notice Rob's reaction and she frowned slightly at Jack.

"That sounds a bit too much like work," she said. Rob couldn't help himself and his snicker turned into a laugh. She turned towards him and looked at him for a moment before seeing Jack's grin broaden. A glance at Ianto showed him looking away from the other two men, his shoulders shaking in a silent chuckle. "Oh. Do I really want to know more?" The three men chorused 'no' together and she shook her head.

"Really, gentlemen. Some decorum in the workplace may be in order here," she exclaimed in exasperation.

"Wait a minute," Jack protested. He pointed a finger in her direction. "You just told us we were off the clock not five minutes ago. At that point decorum was thrown out the window."

"Not that it was ever here to begin with," Ianto muttered. Jack raised his arm, shaking his fist and mock scowled at Ianto which made Rob laugh all the harder. Julia surveyed the three men.

"I just don't know about you three," she said with a shake of her head.

"That's probably a good thing," Rob told her. He finished cleaning up and stood up. "All right, I'll leave you two your recreational activities. Julia, Todd, it's probably best if we leave now."

Todd had been oblivious to everything that had been going on behind him and he blinked blearily as Rob said his name. "Oh, okay. Let me just start this compiling before we leave."

Julia walked up you Jack. "Try to relax, okay?" Jack saluted her.

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a grin. He saw her glance at Ianto and he winked when she looked back. Smiling ruefully, she shook her head.

"All right, time to go," she said. She gathered up to fellow staff members and hustled them out the door. A few moments later after the wheel spun shut, silence reigned.

"Sherry downstairs?" Jack asked idly. Ianto nodded.

"She was going to stay next to Sian in case she needed something," he told Jack. Jack got a speculative look on his face as he moved over to where Ianto was sitting. "And yes, we can set the sensors to go off if they come past Level IV if you wish."

"I wish," Jack said as he put his hands on the arms of Ianto's chair and effectively trapped him in place. "After you do that, you and I need to have a little discussion about what I found in my inbox."

"Oh?" Ianto gave him a bland look. Jack nodded. "All right then, let me go set the monitor first. Then we can discuss whatever it is you found there." He used his elbows to push Jack's hands off the chair and he stood up. Jack straightened up, but he stayed where he was, forcing Ianto back up a bit in his chair so he could stand up. The two men shared an amused glance with one another before Jack finally nodded.

"I'll see you in my office in five then," he told Ianto. Ianto raised an eyebrow and nodded before going over to one of the computer consoles to set the monitor for the evening. Jack turned away and headed towards his office, a spring in his step.

Ianto took his time setting up the monitors. He could see Jack pacing back and forth and he was amused. Setting the locks for the evening, he dimmed the lights into night mode before ambling over in the direction of Jack's office. By the time he got there, Jack was seated at his desk and looking at something on his computer screen. Ianto had a pretty good idea what it was. He stepped into the doorway and leaned against the doorframe with his hands in his pockets.

Jack knew he was there, but said nothing. He continued to wait for Ianto to give him an explanation. Ianto remained where he was, silent. He could see Jack was looking over at him, or attempting to look at him furtively, but wasn't doing it very well. He schooled his expression to one of bland inquiry. He was not going to be the first one to break in this standoff. He knew that Jack wasn't going to last much longer. Jack tapped his keyboard with his fingers in a drumbeat while he waited. Finally, when Ianto continued to remain silent, he finally said something.

"All right, I give up," he said. He looked at Ianto. "Where the hell did this come from?"

"The CCTV," Ianto informed. Jack rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and sighed in exasperation.

"I know that," he said with a growl. "But how come I don't remember this?"

"Because it was one hell of a party?" Ianto asked innocently. Jack just glared at him.

"How come there's no incriminating video of you in here?" Jack asked accusingly. Ianto just stared him down and his indignation turned to amusement. "Okay, stupid question." Jack looked back at his screen and smiled ruefully. "I sang a sea shanty?"

"Always knew you were one for the sailors," Ianto said dryly. Jack glanced at him and chuckled.

"I can't remember the last time I got drunk. It seems we had one hell of a time." He looked back at Ianto. "Rob obviously knows about this."

"He's the one who pointed it out to me," Ianto said with a nod. "He thought that bit may prove a good distraction at some point." Jack stared at him for a moment before turning back to his computer screen.

"Okay, so what happened to the rest of it?" He asked. Ianto shrugged. "Damn, I miss all the good stuff."

"It wasn't all that good," Ianto admitted. "We both got pissed and passed out. Rob helped us into bed," he continued. He finally moved away from the doorframe and came to sit on the edge of Jack's desk. Jack looked at him speculatively.

"Rob helped us to bed?" He echoed. Ianto nodded. "Where? Here?" Another nod. Jack frowned. "I need to give him a raise for discretion if nothing else then. Though it would have been fun had he joined us."

"First of all, I don't think we were in any position to take advantage of each other, never mind someone else," Ianto said lightly. "Second, I don't think either of us was of interest to him. And personally, he does nothing for me," Ianto continued in a thoughtful tone. "Don't get me wrong, I like him a lot. Just not in that way."

Jack lifted his chin as he watched Ianto speak and he smiled. "Can I say on a personal note that I'm happy to hear that?" Ianto chuckled at the tone of his voice. Jack leaned back in his chair and put his elbows on the arms. "So, what now?"

"No idea," Ianto said. He was still amused at Jack's reaction to the video.

"Well, we are under doctor's orders to be recreational," Jack said and Ianto frowned thoughtfully. He tried to adopt a serious mien as he considered Jack's comment.

"Indeed. I do believe that was an official request," Ianto said with a nod. "And how would you like to recreate?" He asked Jack. Jack thought about it for a moment.

"Well, there are all sorts of things we can do," he said thoughtfully. Ianto waited for him to continue. He looked up at the ceiling. "Naked hide and seek," he started.

"Been ages since we've done that," Ianto acknowledged with a nod. "Plus, there's the added spice of having Sherry lurking below as well." Jack grinned. "Not that I am advocating exposing myself to my great, great grandniece," he amended.

"No, of course not," Jack said with a nod. "There are other games," he went on. Ianto raised an eyebrow.

"Such as?" He asked. Jack opened the drawer of his desk and pulled out a bag of grapes and set it on the table. A look of amusement passed over Ianto's face as he reached in and pulled out one to pop into his mouth. "Now this brings back memories."

"Doesn't it, though?" Jack asked with a grin. They shared a look as they remembered the good cop/bad cop routine that they had done occasionally in the past. Jack broke one off the stem and popped it into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully as he considered the other possibilities.

"Well, if naked hide and seek is not to your liking this evening," he said as he voiced his thoughts. "We have other things like naked chess, checkers, or dominos."

"Ah," Ianto said as he picked up another grape. He bit into the skin and began to peel it back with his teeth. Jack paused as he reached for another piece himself and watched as Ianto nipped the skin off with his teeth until he had the pulpy fruit left. Then he ate it and Jack began breathing again. "I'm sensing a theme here that you're interested in."

"Oh?" Jack had lost the thread of the conversation. "And that is?"

"Being naked," Ianto replied succinctly. Jack frowned, a serious expression on his face and nodded.

"Hmmm, I do see your point," he said. He ate another grape while he thought. "Any problem with that?"

"No," Ianto said. "None whatsoever," he said with a tiny smile on his lips.

"Well, because if you did we could do something else," Jack suggested. Ianto didn't respond and he chanced a look at the man next to him. He could feel the heat of Ianto's body as he reached his hand into the bag to get another grape.

"Like what?" Ianto asked. He leaned back on the desk, his jacket falling open as he propped himself up on his hands. Jack's eyes were drawn to the movement of the jacket and he focused on how the dark charcoal material was pulled taut against Ianto's hips. Ianto pushed Jack's keyboard out of his way and he repeated his question before Jack responded.

"Like, erm," Jack paused to gather his thoughts. His eyes didn't move upwards past Ianto's chest before drifting downwards again. "Like…." He trailed off as Ianto kicked his dress shoes off.

"Like?" Ianto prompted. He pushed the bag out of his way and scooted over so that he was directly in front of where Jack was sitting. He smiled slightly as he saw that Jack had totally lost his train of thought. He moved his feet so that they were resting on the outside of Jack's thighs on the chair. Jack unconsciously licked his lips and Ianto had to swallow a laugh at the expression on his face. Ianto used his feet to pull the chair closer to the desk. The sound of the wheels scraping against the concrete was a muted whisper as Jack let himself be pulled forward.

Ianto leaned forward so that his elbows were on his knees and his face was just inches away from Jack's. "Jack, I believe you're having a hard time keeping track of the conversation here," he said in a mock serious tone. "Do keep focused."


	70. Chapter 70

"Huh?" Jack asked, his eyes looking a little glazed over at the moment. Ianto was highly amused that he had been able to derail Jack in such a fashion. "Ianto, I …" Ianto forestalled any further comment by reaching out, grasping Jack's braces and pulling him close enough to kiss. Jack's hands left the arms of the chair and automatically went up to Ianto's neck to hold him close, extending the kiss. The two men explored each other's mouths for a long moment, tongues twisting against one another. For Ianto, the world around them stopped as they got lost together, trying to make themselves become one entity. Time resumed as they slowly separated. Jack was breathing heavily. Ianto licked his lips, tasting Jack and wanting more. He took a deep breath to steady himself and to focus again. Jack was still looking glassy-eyed.

"Now," he said. Jack had been pulled up against the edge of his desk and his chest was pressed up against Ianto's crotch. "We were discussing recreational activities. Have you decided upon which one?"

"What?" Jack asked. He was finding it impossible to focus on what Ianto was saying, which just amused Ianto all the more. It wasn't often that the younger man could get the upper hand with Jack, so when he did manage to unhinge him, he liked to press his advantage. Ianto pulled Jack forward and slipped his heels around Jack's back. He pulled Jack's hands down to rest on the tops of his thighs as he waited for Jack to form a coherent sentence.

"You know," Ianto said, enjoying being in control of the situation. "What activity would you like to pursue this evening?" Jack just stared at him, unable to comprehend the words for some reason. Ianto tsked and leaned back. Jack tried to bend forward and couldn't, trapped as he was. Ianto reached for the bag of grapes and pulled another one out. Starting at the end where the stem was, he slowly peeled the skin back just inches from Jack's face. He had seen how Jack had focused on that erotic movement earlier and he wanted to tease him some more. He ate the skin first and held the pulp of the fruit in between his thumb and forefinger. Then he placed it between his lips so that it was hanging out halfway. Jack's gaze for wholly focused on his mouth and he brought his lips against Jack's to share the grape.

They kissed again, the fruit shared between them. He felt Jack moan into his mouth and he had to suppress a chuckle. A moment later he felt Jack's hand rubbing the inside of his thigh until it stopped where Jack's own chest got in the way of his goal. Jack tried to ease himself back, but Ianto wasn't allowing him to do that. He kept his hands entwined in Jack's braces and held him close.

"Ianto," Jack breathed, his voice a mere whisper. Ianto tilted his head back and stared into Jack's eyes. He loved the way Jack's eyes could change with his moods. Sometimes they would be a steel grey when he was angry or a cold blue when he was being serious about something. But the color that Ianto loved the most was seeing them shift to the darker blue of desire. And the look he saw now; the base need in Jack's eyes that made him feel wanted, needed and desired. It was a look only for him, as Jack shared all that he felt and couldn't say with words in that look. "Please."

"Please what?" Ianto asked softly, staring deep into Jack's eyes. "What is it, Jack?"

"Don't tease me like this," Jack pleaded. Ianto relented slighted and loosened one hand enough to stroke his fingers through the back of Jack's hair before cupping his neck and bringing Jack close for another one of those spine-tingling kisses. They separated only enough so Ianto could speak, his lips brushing against Jack's as he formed the words.

"Tell me," Ianto said in a low voice, his breath a puff of air against Jack's lips. He could feel Jack trembling, and he felt a certain amount of satisfaction that he could drive Jack this wild.

It took a long moment for Jack to focus on what the other man was saying. He took a deep breath to steady himself and knew he wasn't having much luck. Ianto was just too tempting a distraction.

"Jack?" Ianto prompted with a smile on his face. Jack looked into his eyes, focusing only on the blue irises.

"I think we need to take this downstairs," Jack said in a rough voice. Ianto nodded and glanced over to the bunker entrance before pushing Jack away from him so he rolled backwards in his chair. Something fell as he moved and the desk creaked when he slid off of it. He glanced at it before shrugging. Opening Jack's top drawer, he reached in and pulled several items out and onto the blotter. Finding the bottle he wanted, he left the other stuff where it was and turned to look at Jack. The two men stood looking at one another and after a moment, reached out simultaneously, tugging at each other's clothes as they stumbled their way towards the hatch that led to Jack's bed....

~*~

The next morning dawned and Julia was the first one to arrive. She was surprised that she was the one to power up the lights in the Hub and that everyone else was still sleeping or still at home. As she stood in the entryway, she listened, but all was quiet. Looking at her watch, she frowned thoughtfully. It was already half past seven. Not too early, by her estimation. Shaking her head in bemusement, she got the coffee started and made herself a pot of tea. She looked around the quiet room and sighed softly. If only it were always this peaceful, she reflected. Glancing around, she saw that the light had been left on in Jack's office. Thinking maybe he had been working in the dark despite her instructions to the contrary, she went over and opened the door.

She paused in the doorway. Grapes were spilled all over the floor and had rolled all the way to where she was standing. She saw the bag that contained them had fallen off of Jack's desk. Reaching down to pick up the fallen fruit, she saw that some of the grapes had been smashed as well. She frowned as she picked up the grapes and put them back in the bag. Then she froze. Articles of clothing were strewn all of the room. She blinked as she saw Jack's braces draped over the reading lamp on his desk. As she looked around, she saw bits of clothing scattered everywhere. A tie hung off the back edge of the desk like a sinewy snake, the pattern reflecting the soft light. Shoes were littered about the room, as if they had been kicked off by their owners and abandoned. She placed the bag on the top of Jack's desk and her eyes encountered an open bottle on the desk. She started to reach for it before recognizing the name on the label. Pulling back her hand, she stuck her hand in her lab coat pocket. It was not hers to touch.

Julia looked around. Obviously the two men couldn't have gone far. The rest of the room was quiet except for… she listened intently. She could hear something and she closed her eyes, straining to figure out what the noise was. She walked past the desk. The hatch that was always closed when she had been there in the past was open, and it was from that direction the sound had come from. She knew she really shouldn't be invading Jack's privacy, but there was a part of her that just couldn't help herself. The sound was now apparent as that of the two men breathing, obviously still asleep. She took another step in that direction and stopped herself. What she wanted to do was wrong, she told herself. She was not only invading his privacy, but obviously Ianto's as well. She turned around and left the office, closing the door softly behind her. Let the two men sleep. Obviously Jack had a bed down there. It stood to reason, since he often changed clothes somewhere in his office.

She debated with herself before going out and getting breakfast for the group. She was feeling the need to atone for her earlier nosiness so she left the Hub and went out to get a good selection of breakfast foods for them to eat.

When she returned, Sherry was up and Rob had arrived. Sherry gave her a brilliant smile.

"Was it you who made the coffee this morning?" She asked. Julia smiled and nodded. Sherry took the bags of food out of the woman's hands. "Thank you."

"You're quite welcome. I was the first one here, so I thought I would get us up and running this morning," Julia said with a nod. She helped Sherry unpack the selection of fruit and fresh baked croissants. Rob came over and stole one of the ham and cheese ones while it was still warm before heading back over to his console. "Good morning, Robert. You could pause long enough to eat that instead of inhaling it," Julia told him.

Rob just waved the end of the croissant still in his hand as his mouth was full. He typed in his access code and logged into the computer. Julia watched him for a moment before shaking her head and heading over to the sofa to sit down with Sherry.

"Is Sian up yet?" She asked. Sherry shook her head as she added more cream to her coffee until it was white. Julia watched as she poured what amounted to half a cup of sugar into the mug and she smiled. She said nothing though as the other woman sipped her concoction.

"Good morning," a voice rumbled behind her. Julia turned to see Jack approaching. He was in the process of rolling up his sleeves as he walked over to them. "Whatever it is that's for breakfast smells heavenly."

"Julia went to Etienne's," Sherry explained. Jack nodded as he came over and picked up a croissant. He held it up and inhaled, his eyes closed with a beatific smile on his face. Julia smiled.

"You know, it doesn't get much better than this," Jack said. "Good food, good coffee, and good friends. All we're missing is a nice little umbrella table along the Seine right now." He bit into the croissant and chewed.

"Well, we do have the water to put the table next to," Rob said, with an indication towards the water tower. "It's not the Seine, but it's the best we can do at the moment." Jack opened his eyes and chuckled.

"Is everyone nice and relaxed after your recreational evening?" Jack asked as he accepted a mug of coffee from Sherry.

"Oh yes, I had a lovely evening last night," Julia said with a smile. Rob nodded and grinned as he sat down on a nearby stool. "I'm glad that Todd hasn't come in yet. Hopefully that means he was finally able to sleep. Is Ianto still sleeping?"

Jack smiled at her. "Yeah, though chances are, the smell will wake him up soon."

"Did already," a voice said and a moment later Ianto appeared, wearing casual dress trousers and a shirt. "Who knew almonds were my favorite?" He asked as he brushed past Jack and over to the tray of food.

"I did buy fruit as well, you know," Julia pointed out. Ianto paused in the act of picking up the almond croissant and looked guiltily in her direction. "Oh, don't let that stop you from eating that. Just make it a balanced diet," she said with a smile. Ianto nodded and she watched him as he put the croissant on a plate before moving over to the tray of fruit. He picked up a banana and some grapes before taking a seat next to her on the sofa. Jack hooked a stool with one foot and sat down before grabbing another croissant. He had a naughty boy expression on his face as he deliberately hovered over the fruit for a moment before moving his hand onto the other tray. Julia just shook her head.

Ianto popped a grape into his mouth. "Oh, the grapes are good," he said.

"Are they now?" Jack asked him with a raised eyebrow. They shared a glance that seemed to speak volumes, and Julia wondered what exactly had gone on with the bag of grapes in Jack's office. She decided she didn't want to know.

"You should try one, Jack. They're good enough to peel," Ianto said before lowering his eyes to his plate and picking up his croissant. He thanked Sherry as she put a mug on the coffee table before him. "Thank you, Sherry. I could have got that myself."

"No need, because I already did it," Sherry told him. They smiled at one another before Ianto picked up another grape and ate it with relish. Rob looked from one man to the other. Jack had stopped eating and was just watching Ianto. He chuckled at the expression on Jack's face. Those two were always a source of amusement and seemed to take something so mundane to a completely different level. Ianto glanced over in his direction and winked at him before picking up his cup and drinking.

"Speaking of grapes," Julia said casually, "I found some spilled out all over the place earlier." She saw Ianto pause in the act of placing his cup back down on the table and she glanced over at Jack. "You two have a food fight last night?"

"Something like that," Jack said with a grin. He had noticed that the bag of grapes was in the middle of his desk when he had gotten up, and he knew that it hadn't been there when he went downstairs with Ianto. "We got a little carried away recreating last night." Ianto coughed and quickly brought a napkin to his mouth which covered his expression. Sherry gave him a concerned look but Ianto waved her off.

"Just down the wrong pipe," he coughed again. He avoided Julia's glance and concentrated on his plate.


	71. Chapter 71

"Robert," Jack went on, ignoring the measured look that Julia was giving him. "Our CCTV seems to need some calibration."

"Oh?" Rob asked. He turned a bland look in Jack's direction. "What makes you think that?"

"We seem to have some missing files over the past couple of weeks," Jack informed him. "I'm concerned it may be a hardware problem."

"No, no problem there," Rob responded. "I was just doing regular maintenance as the files were getting rather large." He sat back in his chair and grinned at Jack. "There was really nothing worth keeping." Jack stared at him for a long moment before shaking his head.

"Robert, I do trust your integrity as my chief of security," Jack informed him. He held out his mug to Sherry who was making the rounds with the coffee pot and waited for her to fill it. Smiling up at her, he continued. "And perhaps some continued maintenance might be in order, just to check that everything is working properly." Rob nodded amiably.

Julia shook her head. Sometimes this place had more layers of meaning than met the eye and ear and she thought this whole conversation was being held on several levels this morning. Jack went on to talk about some other stuff that needed to be done within the Hub, Rob nodding as he spoke. When Jack's voice trailed off Julia looked up from her tea and saw that he was focused on something off to her left. She turned to look and saw Ianto eating a banana. He was taking his time with it and was obvious that he was doing it to tease Jack.

Rob started laughing and stood up. "Okay, that's enough for me. I need to get some work done." With that, he turned and headed back to his console, shaking his head.

"Really, gentlemen," Julia chided. She could see that Sherry looked clueless and that all of this byplay had gone completely over her head. Julia supposed that was a good thing, considering that Ianto was a relative. Ianto popped the last of the banana that he had been eating with great relish into his mouth and gave her an innocent look. Jack was still staring at him, looking a bit slack-jawed.

"Yes?" Ianto asked, a tiny smile on his lips. "Was there something I could help you with?" He asked Julia. She shook her head.

"Shameless, really," she commented as she put her teacup down on the saucer.

"Absolutely and utterly," Ianto agreed with a nod of his head. He gave Julia a long and considering look before leaning towards her. "Thank you for cleaning up the grapes I spilled earlier," he said in a low voice. "I gather we made a bit of a mess last night."

Julia blinked. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Ianto smiled at her. "Jack has this fruit fetish, you see. And sometimes, I just can't help but tease him," he admitted. He then picked up a grape and looking in Jack's direction, began to peel it with his teeth.

"I think it's time I got some work done," Julia said. She stood up and turned away from the two men, giving them a shake of her head. Jack was still focused on Ianto and she wondered if he would even notice if an alarm went off in that moment. She thought not. Picking up her teapot and cup, she carried them over to her work console and sat down, her back to the sofa.

Ianto chuckled. "Work to do, Jack," he said softly. Jack shook himself and sighed.

"Damn work," he muttered. Ianto stood up with a laugh and walked over to where Jack was seated. Leaning down, he placed a kiss against the top of Jack's head.

"The sooner we get started, the sooner we finish," he told the older man. Jack nodded and took the hand Ianto held out to him and he hauled himself up.

"Right you are," Jack said. "Let's get this thing done. I'm sick of these people messing in my timeline." The two men refilled their cups before heading over to the playroom where they had left their work in progress. Julia kept an eye on them as they settled down to work. Rob was still busy removing wiring and circuitry from the piece he had and Jack sat down at his work station with a renewed look of concentration on his face.

Shortly after, the doors opened and Todd came in. "Sorry I'm late, everyone!" He called as he passed the men working diligently. "Overslept." He looked much better now that he had a decent night's sleep. He dropped his bag at his console and went over to get some food before getting started. The rest of the team greeted him, but kept working. They all felt like they were close to a solution and needed to get it up and running before the next threat occurred.

After a few hours of working steadily, Jack leaned back and stretched. He stared at the contents on the table and nodded in satisfaction. Rob had been able to pull enough wire that he could connect the circuit board from the traliverator to the fission unit that he had pulled apart.

"Ianto?" Jack asked. Ianto looked up from the work he had been doing. "Bring that stuff over here," he asked, gesturing to the shimmering pile of crystals that was in front of the other man. Ianto nodded and moved the magnifying light out of his way that he had been using to extract the delicate crystals from the hardware to which they were attached. He scooped them into a plastic bin and brought them over to where Jack sat.

Jack dumped them onto the table and spread them out, the light refracting off the gems and shining about the Hub's main room.

"Oh, that's lovely!" Sherry exclaimed as she walked past with a file in her hands. She looked up at the colors which were reflected on the ceiling of the room. Jack looked up and smiled. It was lovely.

"Reminds me of a bordello I was in once on Galven Five," he started. "Sixteen aliens all vying for the attention of…"

"Jack," Ianto said in a disapproving tone, interrupting Jack's reminiscing. Jack stared at him.

"What?" He asked. Ianto glanced at the women in the room and shook his head. Jack let out a long suffering sigh. "I wasn't going to say anything dirty. Really, Ianto, get your mind out of the gutter." Rob snickered but kept his head down as he worked. Jack glared at him. "You're just as bad, you know. Don't think I'm not wise to your antics, Mr. Mullen." Rob looked up and grinned at his boss before returning to his soldering. Ianto cleared his throat and Jack looked up at him in surprise.

"The crystals," Ianto prompted.

"Oh, yeah," Jack said. "Those." He ran his hand through the gems, spreading them out over the work table. "I need to see what will work best," he murmured. With Ianto watching over his shoulder, he picked out one and tried to fit it into the holder he had devised on the board he had been working on. It was a little too big. "Normally, they'd use much larger crystals to power this thing. I'm hoping that I can network them together so they'll do the same job."

"Do you think that is going to be a problem?" Ianto asked with a slight frown on his face. It sounded rather seat of the pants to him, and they were going to have to rely on this to do the work of pulling the assassin to them and bypassing the nasty aliens in the process. He hoped Jack knew what he was doing.

"Oh, sure," Jack said breezily. He ignored Ianto's skeptical look as he sorted through the gems.

"Does color matter?" Ianto asked as he estimated the size of the fittings and which gems would work best.

"Hopefully not," Jack said. "Though some colors do transmit better than others. Let's try for a lighter one, since in theory that will pass the light better," he suggested. Ianto nodded and moved over so that he was standing by Jack's side rather than behind him and he peered intently down at the scattered stones in front of them. Jack leaned his chin on his hand and let Ianto pick out the next stone. Ianto selected three.

"Try one of these and see if it works," he said. Jack nodded. Two fit, though one of them a little better than the other, so Jack tightened down the fittings that would hold it into place. He scooted his stool back and lowered his head so that it was level with the circuit board and examined the mounted jewel from the side, making sure it was in contact with the board itself. Looking up, he saw that Ianto was following his actions with great interest. He grinned up at the other man. "Now, we test it."

"How?" Ianto asked. Jack beckoned him with a finger and he squatted down to where Jack was crouched.

"In my office, go to the safe and get item TW56091412," Jack asked. "I've been keeping that one for a while, and I think it will be just the thing that we need." Ianto raised an eyebrow. "It's safe. Don't worry." Ianto snorted softly. "Ianto, trust me."

"Oh, I do. I just don't trust your little pets in the safe," he said with a grin. Jack met his grin and watched as he pushed himself up against the table and headed over in the direction of Jack's office.


	72. Chapter 72

Julia kept an eye on the men as she compiled her list of possible weapons that could be used against the aliens. Ianto returned a short while later with a long flat box. He handed it to Jack.

"Thanks," Jack said. He looked down at the box and broke the Torchwood seal on it before opening it. Inside was a long rod which looked innocuous enough. He knew better. Carefully lifting it out of the containment field, he held it so that the dark end faced away from him and Ianto. "Robert."

Rob looked up from where he sat. "Yeah?"

"Do me a favor and step away from where you are, please," Jack requested. Rob pushed himself back from where he was sitting and moved so that he was behind Jack. "Thanks."

"It's that dangerous?" Rob asked, looking at the cylindrical rod in Jack's hands. His boss nodded and Rob took another cautious step back. Julia looked up and watched with a concerned look on her face.

"Gentlemen, do I need to go get the medical kit?" She asked. Jack shook his head.

"No. If I do this right, there will be no need for bandages or medical assistance," Jack stated confidently.

"And if you don't do this right?" Ianto asked. Jack grinned up at him.

"Call the contractor, because that back wall will probably cave in," he said with a wink. Ianto shook his head. Sometimes, it was questionable about exactly how serious Jack was about these things. He often suspected that the truth rested closer to the surface of what Jack said than what he wanted people to believe. "Trust me," he said.

"That's what Han said and look where it got him," Ianto muttered. Jack chuckled, though the reference was lost on their teammates.

"Do you know how many races use carbonite for the shipping of livestock?" Jack asked as he leaned over the board in front of him and carefully placed the cylinder so that it was up against the crystal. "It provides quite a handy method for interstellar colonization," he went on in a conversational tone as he twisted the end of the rod and then checked the front edge before placing his finger over an indentation on the back end. "Really, Lucas didn't know how right he was when he wrote that scene." Ianto shook his head but said nothing in response. "Okay, everyone hang onto your seats. This should only take about a nanosecond, but if I miscalculated, we'll be doing some impromptu redecorating."

Before anyone could reply to his last comment, he pressed the end of the rod briefly. A green light shot out of the device and hit the crystal. Ianto and Rob ducked, both afraid that the light would be refracted by the cuts in the crystal and hit them. Instead, the light went into the crystal and was absorbed by it. Ianto raised his head so that it was level with Jack's arm and peered cautiously at the board. Jack glanced over at him with an amused expression on his face.

"Ianto, I'm hurt. You doubted me," he said. Ianto just glared at him.

"Two words – singularity scalpel," he said and Jack barked out a laugh as he watched the two men stand back up and peer down at the now glowing crystal in front of them.

"Hey, that wasn't me! That was Owen who did that!" Jack protested with a laugh. He could see Julia watching from a safe distance and he winked at her. "It's okay, Jules. I never felt for a moment that I was going to get this wrong." He ignored Ianto's murmured 'uh huh' as he turned to look at Rob. "This did what I thought it was going to do, which is that it has now transferred power to the crystal. This will allow us to power up the Kralyro device, once we get enough of a critical mass installed." Rob bent down and peered intently at the glowing gem.

"What did it do, exactly?" He asked. Jack carefully removed the rod from where it lay next to the crystal and put it front end down into an empty cup that was holding some screwdrivers and pens.

"This device here," Jack said with a finger pointing to the cylinder that he just put away, "creates a negative ion charge. Normally, it's not something very dangerous except for the level of Helvar particles that are built into the lining of the rod. The particles themselves resonate according to ion and nanite friction and can be considered explosive," Jack went on. "If not in a controlled environment, one micron of Helvar can pretty much take out the Hub down to the tenth level." Rob blinked.

"And this was controlled?" He asked. When it came to explosive anything along with affecting the security of the Hub he was extremely serious. Jack nodded. "And how much of this Helvar stuff is in that tube?" Jack shrugged.

"Enough to get the job done. Don't worry, it's safe in the application I used it. The charged particles emit the beam that you saw and together they infused and powered the crystal. Technically, they reallocated its molecular structure from an inert stone to one that is a self sustaining power cell. Now that the crystal is charged, it is perfectly safe. Once we charge enough of them and place them on this board we should be able to power up the nose of the ship," Jack said with a tone of satisfaction in his voice. Ianto shook his head and moved back to where he had been working. Most of the crystals that he had uncovered so far were dark, so he wanted to free up some lighter ones in order to give Jack a better selection for a power source.

"And how many do we need?" Rob asked. Jack shrugged.

"Enough to power it up. I'm assuming we'll need a certain critical mass – say ten or fifteen at the very least," Jack said. "We'll know when it happens." He picked up his pliers and started bending some wire into the circuit board for the next crystal mount. Rob watched him carefully for a moment, and then peered a little closer at the glowing crystal.

"It would make nice jewelry," he commented and Jack chuckled.

"They do have jewelry like that, but usually it can be very dangerous," Jack said with an absent smile as he picked up a soldering iron and used it to fuse a piece of metal to the circuit board. He picked up another prong and did the same at a 45 degree angle to the first as he talked. "I had one once. Well, for a brief time. It was known as a warp star," he said as he held the metal bracket down and touched the tip of the iron to the board. Smoke wisped up from the board and he blew on it to cool it down before moving onto the next bracket.

"Wasn't that what you used to threaten the Daleks with?" Ianto asked. Jack looked up and nodded to him before picking up the next piece of metal to attach to the boards. "I seem to remember the Doctor wasn't too happy with you wiring that into their mothership."

"He wasn't happy with Martha and her Osterhagen Key, either," Jack said with a smile. "At least all I was doing was threatening to blow up the mothership. She was threatening to blow up the Earth!"

"Oh, like that makes it okay," Ianto commented with a shake of his head. "Never mind that destroying the Dalek ship would have taken out all of the planets surrounding it. But let's not get into the petty details, right?"

"Wow, tough audience," Jack said sourly. "Look, it was the end of the world. We didn't have much choice."

"It's always the end of the world, Jack, and there's always another solution that presents itself before it blows up," Ianto retorted.

"You sound like the Doctor," Jack muttered. Ianto chuckled as he pried another crystal out of a piece of space junk in his hands.

"What, pray tell, was an Osterhagen Key?" Julia asked curiously. Jack lifted his head and looked over in her direction.

"It was some military minds' bright idea to plant nuclear warheads under the upper crust around the planet. With at least three keys activated in silos, it would blow the warheads and take out the Earth in a final strike," Jack explained. Rob, Todd and Julia all looked aghast at the thought. "It was a line of last defense, and was to be used when it was thought that all hope for the human race had been exhausted. The Doctor wasn't too happy about that," he said with a shake of his head as he bent back over the table and the work he was doing there. "First thing he did when it was all over was to tell Martha to dismantle the silly thing."

"The human race never ceases to amaze me with its own stupidity," Julia muttered darkly. Ianto's shoulders shook with amusement as he laughed silently at her comment.

"They really would have blown up the world?" Todd asked in amazement. Jack looked up to see the young man peering at him myopically through his glasses.

"It was a desperate time," Jack said. "When the alternative was being killed slowly by an alien race that hated humans and all that we stood for, self destruction seemed like a better option." Todd blinked. Rob clapped him on the shoulder.

"Not to worry, Todd. It never happened because we're still here. If it had, we wouldn't be here to worry about it," he said with a sympathetic grin at his colleague. Todd thought about that philosophy and nodded.

"True enough. No sure in worrying about what might have been since it didn't happen," he said. He turned back to his computer and went back to typing in some code. Jack glanced about the room and saw that his staff was all content with that idea and he grinned to himself. Shaking his head, he bent back over the table and started soldering again.


	73. Chapter 73

Sherry came by at one point and asked whether anyone was hungry, but as no one was, so she didn't bother with the idea of ordering food. By the time they had gotten through to late afternoon, Jack had been able to mount six crystals onto the board. Julia wandered over and looked at each of the glowing gems. Depending on the color of the crystal, the glow took on the hue of the gem and it looked like holiday lights on the circuit board. She could see from Jack's look of satisfaction that they had made good progress.

"Six down, at least another four to go," he said as he stretched. Julia stood up from where she was leaning over and handed him her report. He glanced down at it and back up at her with an enquiring look.

"That's a breakdown of possible reagents which can be used against the aliens," she informed him. He smiled in approval and put the report off to one side to read later.

"Thank you," Jack said. "It will make a little interesting bedtime reading."

"Is that what you do in bed?" Rob asked with a grin. Jack winked at him. "Would those be considered Torchwood staff meetings?" Ianto laughed.

"No, those particular occurrences are considered strategy sessions," Jack said with a grin. Rob nodded knowingly. Julia just sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly at their antics. Jack chuckled at the expression on her face.

"Really, gentlemen, is there no professional decorum here?" She asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Says the woman who was poking about my office earlier this morning?" Jack asked with a pointed look. Julia flushed and looked away. Jack laughed out loud, pleased that he had been able to best her in one of their verbal sparring matches. Rob looked a little confused and looked over at Ianto who smiled and shook his head. Shrugging, Rob went back to the delicate work of disassembling the fission unit in front of him.

"I'm sorry," Julia said contritely in a low voice meant for Jack's ears alone. "That wasn't very professional of me." Jack could see that she was upset with her own actions and he put a hand on the one she had rested on the desk.

"Julia," he said in a quiet tone. He looked up at her thoughtfully for a long moment, and then nodded to himself. Squeezing her hand, he stood up. "Come with me, please," he asked. He picked up her report and gestured in the direction of his office. Rob and Ianto shared a mystified look as Julia followed him across the room and through the open door. A moment later, it closed behind them.

"What's all that about?" Rob asked. Ianto shrugged.

"Guess he wants to talk about her report," he said in a mild tone. He went back to the work he was doing, working quickly to free another stone from its mount.

Inside Jack's office, the Captain put the report down on his desk and turned around so he could lean on the front. He indicated one of the chairs opposite and Julia sat down.

"Look Jack, I was out of line there," she said, apologizing fully now that they were alone. Jack raised a hand to stop her.

"Julia, please sit," he said, his hand still outstretched towards the chair in front of him. Reluctantly, she sat down. He looked at her for a long moment before saying anything.

"Julia, I know you have concerns. I appreciate them. I really do," he said. "But what Ianto and I do during off hours is frankly none of your business," he continued. She opened her mouth and he put up a hand to forestall her comment. "Please, let me say this." She closed her mouth and sat quietly. "I know this is probably confusing to you, since you're not used to seeing me with someone in the time you've worked here. Because Ianto was in cryo, I didn't want to be with anyone else. You were able to save him, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing so. I would be lost without him.

"I don't want my relationship with him to be the focus of what we do here," he continued. She looked up at him and nodded without saying anything. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know you have concerns about me being isolated from the rest of you. I get the fact that you think we don't relax enough. And I'm willing to support that when I think we can take the time to relax the team. But when things are up in the air the way they are now, I really don't have time for worrying about what everyone else thinks. Ianto and I can certainly be more discreet. Usually we're up long before anyone else arrives in the morning, so what you ran into shouldn't have happened. I blame myself for that," Jack told her. She opened her mouth and again he put up a hand. "Let me finish.

"I said that we'd be moving out to a flat when all of this is over, and we will. I owe it to him to have some sort of normalcy for us both," Jack said. "We've spent too many years with a schizophrenic existence in this place already. He deserves better, and he's been fantastic about putting up with me over the years." Jack smiled. "As much fun as it can be skulking around the Hub in the nude chasing one another around, I think it's time we settled down. For as long as we have together," he paused for a moment and frowned. "I nearly lost him once before, and I know that the time we have together may be limited. I was falling into bad habits again and you did a good job of showing me that. I'm learning," he said with a smile for her. "But it's going to take time. Just please don't push him. He has enough on his plate."

Julia heard the plea in his voice and saw how concerned he was about this, not for himself, but for Ianto. "Of course, Jack. And I'm sorry if you felt like I was pushing either of you." She looked down at her hands for a moment. "I've always felt that you deserve some sort of normal life for yourself, and now that you're actually thinking about it, I guess I'm getting a bit ahead of myself," she said with a smile on her face. Jack knelt down in front of her.

"I know, my friend," he said as he covered her hands with his own. "And I do appreciate that you care. And next time to feel the urge to poke about, pick up the clothes as well. Ianto would appreciate it," he said with a grin. She let out a laugh and knew that all was forgiven. He smiled up at her. "Seriously, Jules. I know you mean well." He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the lips. "And if it helps, I'll make sure we tone things down a bit so it's not so provocative."

"Oh please don't do that!" Julia protested. "You both have so much fun with it, and it does help to lighten things when they're feeling grim." Jack nodded.

"All right then," he said with a smile. He sat back on his heels, but otherwise stayed where he was. "I'm not sure I'd want to stop that, either." He reached behind to his desk and grabbed the report. "Okay, now let's pretend to talk business. Let's see what you've got." He stood up and moved back to lean against the front of the desk. Julia accepted his forgiveness and the change of topic with a nod.

"I prioritized the list in order of importance and the amount of damage the reagents can do," she began. They discussed various items and how they may be able to wield them safely without harm to one another. The discussion lasted some time, and by the time they were finished and came out of the office, Todd, Ianto and Rob were taking a break and sitting around the sofa talking.


	74. Chapter 74

"What is this, a mutiny?" Jack asked with a mock scowl. He put his hands on his hips and stared at them.

"Mandatory union break," Rob said. He was eating some of the fruit left over from their long ago breakfast.

"We have a union?" Todd asked. He looked around in surprise. Ianto nodded in agreement to Rob's comment. "Oh."

"Ooh, I like playing management," Jack said with a grin. He rubbed his hands together. "Who gets to negotiate the contract with me?" Both Todd and Rob pointed to Ianto.

"Oh, that's not fair," Ianto said. He attempted to look annoyed, but he couldn't stop himself from smiling at Todd. "I didn't even volunteer!"

"You were elected," Todd said. Rob nodded and nudged Ianto.

"Besides, he likes you best," he said in a stage whisper.

"Children," Julia said in a disapproving tone. "Really." Jack just burst out laughing.

"Thank you, gentlemen for reminding me that you should have your mandatory break," he said. "And I was beginning to look forward to the negotiations on benefits."

Ianto grinned up at him. "I do think there are some issues that probably need to be discussed, Captain."

"Oh?" Jack raised an eyebrow and looked over at Julia who was studiously avoiding any comment.

"Yes," Ianto said, dropping the grin. "As shop steward, I believe it is my duty to report that I heard something about a complaint regarding harassment."

"What?" Jack affected a shocked expression. "Mr. Jones that is a serious allegation. I'll have you know that there hasn't been a charge of harassment against this organization for over 125 years."

"Yeah, I know. I believe I made that complaint as well," Ianto said with a grin. Rob started laughing and Todd looked from one to the other of the two men and shook his head.

"How did I end up in such a wacky work environment?" Todd asked no one in particular. "And why do I feel like most of the time I'm missing half of the good jokes in the process?" Rob continued to laugh and reached over to pat Todd on the leg.

"Years of experience, my friend," he said as he tried to contain himself. "Hang around here long enough, and we'll corrupt you so thoroughly that you'll be thinking up the quips before we can." Ianto nodded in agreement.

"Is that what we're reduced to?" Julia asked as she threw up her hands. "One upmanship?" The four men looked at one another and in unison responded in the affirmative. "Really, gentlemen!" She huffed and walked away to the sound of their laughter behind her.

"You guys want food before we get back to work?" Jack asked. He saw that in the time that they had been talking that the three men had pretty much decimated what was left from breakfast. They shrugged and he nodded. "Let me buzz Sherry and have her send for something," he said. He turned back to his office, leaving the three men sitting where they were.

"Hey guys?" Todd asked. Rob and Ianto turned back to look at him. "I know we're working hard at getting this whole power thing up and running, but shouldn't we also come up with a strategy plan for what we're going to do with it once we do get it up and running?"

"I'm sure Jack has something in mind," Ianto said. He and Rob looked at one another as they considered that possibility.

"Right, let's figure out what we're going to do," Rob said with a nod. Jack's plans tended to be very seat of the pants type things and it wouldn't hurt to have something more in mind for when they did have to activate this thing and use it. Rob rubbed his hand against his face as he thought.

"Assuming that his interpretation of the directions is correct," Ianto said. "And this thing will pull something other than an alien with claws, fangs and corrosive blood into our laps, what do we want to accomplish?"

"We want them to stop," Todd said decisively. The other two men nodded. "Maybe they don't realize what it is that they're doing and if they actually are brought here, they'll understand."

"It may also be a one way trip," Rob said. "Whomever we pull here may be stuck permanently, and then we have to deal with that. A remote serial killer from who knows when. Do we put them in a cell and let them rot?" Ianto looked thoughtful at their comments.

The alarms sounded and the cog wheel door rolled back, revealing Sherry with a tray of food. The men all turned to look in her direction as the smell of hamburgers filled the space. Jack came out of his office and stared at her. He hadn't been able to reach her and was just about to go topside to see where she was when she walked in with enough food to feed an army. Or at least his army, he thought with a grin as he looked at the responses of the three men who had turned as one as if they were attached to one body. He leaned against the doorframe and watched as they got up and relieved her of her burden.

"Thanks, Sherry!" Todd said as he fished a couple of burgers out of the bag and headed back to his desk to work some more on his program. That left Ianto and Rob to more sedately greet her and assist her with putting the food down on the coffee table. Julia wasn't interested in it, so that left the rest for them. Sherry kept a portion for herself and Sian, which she then brought downstairs. Jack pushed off from the doorframe and joined them, sitting down next to Ianto on the sofa.

"That woman is a mind reader," Rob said as he started eating. Ianto looked over at Jack and smiled. They both knew that she had done something that Ianto himself had done many times in the past when running support for the team. Ianto picked up a sandwich and opened it carefully, not wanting to spill anything on his shirt. Jack ate in his usual messy fashion, more concerned with getting the food inside of him than how it looked.

When they were finished, they went back to work, the food having given them new energy for their assigned tasks. Jack tackled his task with gusto, singing some bawdy song about a spaceman Willy and his girlfriend of a thousand tentacles. Ianto figured it was something like 99 Bottles where you had to be really pissed for it to make sense, but soon both he and Rob were joining Jack in on the chorus of "She looked at me with her weaving eyestalks and placed her tentacle on my…" with the last word being whichever of Willy's body parts had been mentioned in the previous refrain.

Julia shook her head and tried to ignore them. It was hard to do, but she was amazed that Todd was able to ignore their antics as well as he did. He seemed completely absorbed in what he was doing, which was furiously typing code into the computer console. Her attention was drawn back to the other men when Jack stopped singing and the others trailed off a moment later. And a loud pop could be heard as something on his circuit board blew.

"What is it?" Rob asked as Jack sat back with a loud explosion of sound.

"Damn," he said with a sigh. Rob and Ianto got up and walked over to where he was seated and together they peered at the board in front of Jack.

"It fused," Ianto observed and Jack nodded glumly.

"Yeah, couldn't handle the power," Jack said. He looked at the mess in front of him and rubbed his face in his hands. "All that work," he sighed.

Rob patted him on the back. "Maybe we can salvage some of it," he suggested. Ianto frowned and then coughed at the acidic smell coming from the board.

"I don't know," he said doubtfully. He blew on it to clear the brown smoke that curled up. The board was slagged into one large piece, the gems no longer glowing.

"What now?" Rob asked. Jack stared at the board for a long moment and sighed again.

"We start over again, this time hopefully make a network of smaller boards that can work together so no one board is overloaded," he said finally. The other two men nodded and Rob went back over to the cart and together he and Jack selected another board for him to extract from the fusion-fission power choices. Jack asked him to pull the circuit board out of a long flat box and Rob hauled it over to get started.

Jack stood up from where he had been crouched next to the cart and put his hands on his hips. He surveyed their work with a troubled look on his face. Ianto looked up at him from where he was seated in front of his growing pile of crystals.

"We'll get it," he said in a confident tone. Jack nodded once before turning away. Julia could see the look of discouragement on his face and it troubled her. If Jack wasn't confident that something was going to work, then they were indeed going to have an issue.


	75. Chapter 75

Ianto stood up and walked over to where Jack was. "Let's rethink this," he suggested. Jack turned and looked at him.

"How?" Was all he asked.

"Well," Ianto said. "Let's look at it logically. The board fused because of the numbered of powered gems, right?" Jack nodded. "So, let's prevent that the way you suggested." He could see that Jack was looking dubious. "Talk it out. Why wouldn't it work?"

"I'm afraid we might not have enough critical mass if we do it that way," Jack admitted. At Ianto's gesture, he continued. Julia could see that Rob was paying close attention while he carefully pulled apart the housing surrounding the board he was working on. "Too many connections and you have more points of failure, or not enough critical power to achieve good control."

"Okay, so what would be the alternative?" Ianto asked in a reasonable tone. Jack looked startled for a moment. "There's always an alternative option," Ianto said.

"Well," Jack said as he thought about it. "Rather than using a lot of smaller crystals, we could use a larger one which could do the same work. It would take up far less stress on the components that way."

"And how large a crystal would we need?" Ianto asked. Jack thought about it.

"Doing the math based on what I remember about the power it takes for these things?" Jack asked. "Big."

"Okay, I'll go looking for something larger then," Ianto said. He placed a hand on Jack's arm and patted it. "There has to be something in the archives," he said. Jack looked doubtful, but in the face of Ianto's confidence, didn't try to dissuade him from looking.

Ianto walked over to the console and started a new search, looking specifically for items in the archives that may have gems or crystals where size was mentioned. He found several and pulled the records up. Jack was lost in thought and not really paying attention. Ianto had to call his name several times before he finally looked up.

"What?" He asked.

"I asked if these would do," Ianto said as he indicated the items on his display. Jack walked over and stood behind him, chewing on his bottom lip as he thought about it.

"They might," he said, but the doubt in his tone made Ianto feel like somehow Jack knew they weren't going to work.

"Okay, so how big are we talking?" Ianto asked. Jack sighed.

"Big," he admitted. "I have to come clean here. I had a feeling this was going to happen but hoped I could network the smaller gems together so they'd make up for the difference." When Ianto looked at him steadily, he sighed and continued. "Gems have always been used in interstellar travel, either for control or the drive units or communication. And most of them have not come from Earth," he said. "The most popular ones came from Calieri Nine, which is a mining colony a few galaxies over in that direction," Jack said as he gestured somewhere off to the right. "They're renowned for the quality of their crystals."

"Considering that we can't get over in that direction," Ianto said in a dry tone, "we'll just have to make do with what we have here. What would be comparable to a Calieri Nine stone?" Jack thought about it for a long moment.

"Oh something about this big," he said, cupping his hands together and showing Ianto the relative size of one of the drive shaft stones that were popular in ships. "We may not need one that big, but close to it." Ianto looked down at his hands and frowned.

"Nothing like that in the archives," he said with a sigh. He thought for a long moment. "There has to be something else we can use.

"Not sure where we'd get a large gem to use," Jack muttered. "If we don't have it here, we're not going to find it elsewhere."

"What about in a museum?" Julia ventured. The two men turned and looked at her, startled by her suggestion. "It's worth a shot," she said. Jack looked thoughtful as he considered the idea.

Ianto rubbed the back of his neck as he thought. "I don't know. Nothing in the Welsh museums that I can think of off the top of my head," he admitted. Jack sighed. Ianto began pacing as he thought.

"I wonder if UNIT could get me into the Smithsonian," Jack murmured as he considered his somewhat rocky relationship with that organization. He grimaced at the thought of having to go begging to them and also having to explain why he needed something as large as the Hope Diamond for what was essentially an experiment.

"There is something," Rob said and the other two men looked at him. "We'd have to go to London for it, though." They looked blankly at him and he smiled at them. "Think, gentlemen. There's a gem exactly what Jack is looking for. Right inside the Tower of London."

"You have got to be joking," Ianto said in shock. Jack stared at Rob for a long moment as a grin slowly crossed his face and grew larger. Ianto looked up at the ceiling. "Oh Rob, now you've done it." Jack turned and started heading towards his office. "Oh Jack, you are not."

"Watch me," Jack cut in with a grin tossed over his shoulder at Ianto. "Besides, the King owes me." The door closed firmly behind him and Ianto sat back where he was, his mouth moving but no sound coming out.

"He isn't seriously going to ask the King to hand over the crown jewels, is he?" Julia asked after a long moment's silence.

"Knowing Jack, he's already had them," Ianto said in a low voice that only Rob could hear. Rob burst out laughing and Julia gave him an odd look. She didn't think her question was that funny and his reaction was a bit over the top, in her opinion.


	76. Chapter 76

Fifteen minutes passed while they waited. Ianto could see Jack pacing back and forth in his office, gesturing. Rob just put his head down and worked to extract the board for whatever they were going to mount onto it. Ianto looked at the cart that he had brought up from the Archives. He had gone through two hundred years of bits and pieces of stuff and they had pretty much decimated the selection, either rejecting stuff as not being what they needed or cannibalized other equipment in the hopes it would work. He sighed and thought about whether they would actually get something usable in time before the next timeswarm happened. He thought back to all of the impossible things he had witnessed over the years, from ghost walks to the sight of having 26 other planets hovering overhead. It was when he thought something was impossible that he made himself remember how many things he would have thought not possible once actually were, and that he had been witness to those events. He smiled, not noticing that Jack had left his office and was standing there at the edge of the playroom watching him.

Jack had stopped just at the entrance, ready to tell Ianto and Rob what he had worked out when he saw the expression on Ianto's face. He seemed to be staring off into space, but the smile on his face made Jack pause. He moved over to where Ianto was sitting and leaned on the chair, his lips close to Ianto's ear.

"Hope you're thinking of me when you look like that," he said in a low voice. Ianto chuckled.

"Indirectly, I guess I was," Ianto allowed. Jack frowned.

"Only indirectly?" He pouted, then thought about it a moment. "Mmm, if that's indirect, I'll have to pay attention to what your direct thoughts look like," he said with a chuckle that made Ianto rumble with laughter.

"So were you able to steal some of the crown jewels?" Ianto asked as he looked up at Jack. Jack grinned at the implied subtext and nodded. "And?"

"And His Majesty agreed to loan me the sceptre," Jack said with a grin. Rob looked up and his jaw dropped.

"Loan? As in, we can't damage it and need to return it?" Ianto clarified. Jack looked at him like he was crazy.

"Of course we're going to return it!" Jack said, acting shocked that Ianto would think otherwise. Ianto just continued to stare at him. "I even promised to keep it in one piece." Ianto closed his eyes.

"Oh God, we're doomed to break it, then!" He buried his face in his hands and Rob chuckled. He had the same feeling that Ianto did that no good would come out of this loan, but he wisely kept his mouth shut as he saw Jack was looking annoyed by Ianto's apparent lack of faith.

"It's being airlifted here even as we speak," Jack said smugly. "Ianto, would you be so kind as to prepare the necessary paperwork agreeing to the loan with the usual stipulations about insurance riders and the like? I'm sure the security folk will feel better with all that stuff signed and out of the way."

Ianto sighed and stood up, "And what exactly is the Torchwood insurance rider for a 530 plus carat diamond?" At Jack's shrug he shook his head and moved over to the console to do up the paperwork.

Julia watched from where she sat. She really hadn't thought that Jack would do it, or more importantly, convince someone else to do it. Giving up a priceless symbol of the crown and handing it over showed the amount of trust that the King put into their organization. She just hoped they didn't damage it in the process.

"How's that board coming, Rob?" Jack asked. He wandered over to where Rob was working. Rob had removed the housing and now was working on disconnecting the wires from the outside connectors. Peering at what Rob was doing, he nodded. "Good. I think that one will work better for what I have in mind." Rob kept on working and Jack wandered over to where Ianto was working.

Ianto had some documents up on a display that made Jack's eyes water, just from a quick glance at all the legalize that he could see. At Jack's visible wince, Ianto chuckled.

"Make sure we have a triplicate of form TOL 1872-11," Jack said. Ianto raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. "That's what the Tower asked for in order to release it." Ianto nodded. He pulled up that document and started printing out the form in addition to the rider paperwork. When he had a sizable stack of pages in front of him, he started to efficiently fill them out, stacking the pages at angles for each different document. Glancing up at one point, he could see that Jack was looking daunted by the amount of stuff he was going to have to sign. Suppressing a smile, Ianto bent his head back down and finished the work he needed to get done before the guards showed up with the sceptre.

Todd got a hit on the Torchwood radar that they had an incoming Victor SR.88 on a trajectory from London. Jack grinned in satisfaction, having signed all of the paperwork that Ianto required prior to the delivery.

"Ianto, if you would please bring that upstairs," Jack said, "I would appreciate it." He headed towards the cog wheel door, Ianto falling into step behind him, the mound of associated paperwork in his hands. Together, they entered the lift and were soon at the upper level, just as the Victor was landing on the Plass. Jack went into the office and out the door, Ianto trailing behind him. Together, they waited while the rotors slowed and several individuals departed the helicopter. Two of the men carried a long box between them.

"Mmmm, I wonder if being good looking is a requirement for the Life Guards?" Jack wondered. Ianto blinked.

"Jack," he hissed. "Time and place," he reminded him. And this was neither for that sort of talk. Jack only sighed as he watched the three men approach. A very tall forbidding looking young man walked up to where they stood and saluted sharply. Jack returned the gesture with a little more leisure.

"Captain Harkness?" The man all but clicked his boot heels together. The man from the Life Guards was in full dress uniform. Ianto felt a bit under dressed by comparison.

"Corporal Major," Jack said with a nod. He tried not to look past the man to the other two who were carrying the sceptre. "You made good time."

"His Majesty said that time was of the essence," the Corporal Major said seriously. "You have the necessary paperwork so that we may release it to you?" Jack nodded and turned towards Ianto.

"Agent Jones," he said. He smiled at Ianto as his back to the guard was turned. Ianto nodded, fully aware of the seriousness of the exchange, even if Jack wasn't. He stepped out from Jack's shadow and presented the stack of paperwork to the man.

"I'm sure you'll find that this is all in order," Ianto said to him. "We have multiple copies of forms TOL 1872-11, HRM-e 234 and our own internal tracking paperwork which is labeled, along with indemnity clauses. I'm sure your department will find everything they need." The Corporal Major nodded and passed the paperwork to a nearby soldier.

"Please be careful," he said as he indicated to the two men with the box to hand it over to Ianto. Ianto tried not to show surprise at the weight of the box as he held it carefully in his arms. "That is priceless."

"Nothing to fear," Jack said blithely with a confident smile. "I'll let His Majesty know when we are finished with it and can return it to you." The man nodded nervously before turning back to the Victor, though not without several looks over his shoulder at the two men who remained standing on the Plass. The helicopter took off and they watched it rise into the night. When it had lifted far enough away, Jack turned and indicated the entrance with his arm. "After you, Mr. Jones."

Ianto very carefully carried his precious cargo into the office, down the hidden hall and to the lift. He braced the box against the side of the lift as they descended, his mind on how they were going to extract the diamond from the sceptre without doing any damage. He only hoped they could do so, because he didn't want to be the one to face the Life Guards and tell them that it had been harmed while in his care. The lift stopped and Jack let him walk out first, helping Ianto down the stairs and through the open cog wheel door.


	77. Chapter 77

They walked over to the playroom. Rob had cleared off the area where Jack had been working. All of that work had to be binned anyhow, so it left a clear space for Ianto to place the box. Julia walked over to where they were standing and for a moment, they all stared down at the royal seal on the box. Jack gave out a sigh and reached over to open it up. He lifted the top off and set that aside, then folded back the velvet which was wrapped around the sceptre. Julia inhaled as the gold encrusted gems sparked in the overhead light. Jack looked at each of them, seeing the rapt attention as they stared at the piece of history in their midst. Breaking the moment, he reached out, picked up the sceptre and hefted it out of the box.

"Jack, do you really think you should?" Ianto asked. Everyone stared at the Star of Africa which was mounted at the top.

"It's beautiful," Julia breathed. Rob nodded, in awe of it as Jack held it in his hands. Ianto edged closer and examined the top carefully.

"How do we get that out of there without damaging it?" He wondered. Jack tilted it closer so he could see it.

"It must come apart," he commented. He reached out to grasp the staff just below the diamond and instinctively his three employees put out hands to stop him. He paused just before his fingers clasped the base. "Hey, not to worry!" He gently touched the base and examined it to see if there was some way that it attached to the brackets that held the diamond. Then he angled the top down so he could look at that.

A soft gasp made the group look up. Sherry stood with an enchanted look on her face. "Oh, that's lovely!"

"And priceless," Julia noted as Sherry came over to where they were standing. Sherry stared in awe at the staff in Jack's hands.

"It's real?" Sherry asked and the rest of the team nodded. "Wow."

"Wish these things came with assembly instructions," Jack muttered as he carefully tried to twist both the base and top mounts surrounding the gem. Julia turned away, not wanting to watch if he broke it. Jack continued to examine the sceptre closely and after a few minutes of intense concentration, he smiled. "I think I've got it," he murmured. He moved midway down the staff and twisted. They all heard an audible click and the sceptre separated into two parts.

Jack handed the short end to Rob and started disassembling the rest in stages. The next section of the staff slid off a metal bar and Rob laid that down next to the bottom half of the staff. Jack worked to unscrew the bar, then the intricate set of locking mechanisms which held the brackets for the diamond. Jack carefully removed each gem encrusted ring and placed them on the table in order. Ianto stepped a little closer as he saw the brackets start to move. He put his hands out under the top of the sceptre to catch anything should it fall and Jack grinned at him.

"Have a little faith, people," Jack chided as he finally got to the large curving brackets. "It's been a while since I've seen this baby," he said softly. He glanced up and saw that Julia had turned back to watch, unable to keep away. At her enquiring glance he grinned. "I happened to be there when they found the Cullinan."

"Oh, here we go again," Ianto murmured. Jack gave him a look and closed his mouth. Ianto gave him a sardonic look. "Go on, you know you want to tell the story."

"Not if it is going to bore you," Jack said with a slightly petulant note in his voice. Rob chuckled and Jack glanced over at him. He couldn't resist telling the story. "It was 1905. I was visiting my friend Frederick, who was the superintendent of the mine. We were, uhm, checking out the support structure for the mine when he found it. He thought it was a piece of glass someone stuck in the wall by someone playing a joke." Jack had been able to remove one of the brackets and a moment later the large gem was loose. Jack tilted the top and it fell into Ianto's waiting hands. They all stared down at the shining diamond. "Ladies and gentlemen, the Cullinan I, otherwise known as the Star of Africa. Cut in 1908 and given as a gift to Edward VII as a birthday present. And let me tell you, he was quite appreciative of that!"

"Oh, don't even start," Ianto said with a note of censure in his voice as he carefully placed the large diamond on the table. Jack put the rest of the sceptre down and Rob made sure that it was in order so they could put it back together again. Hopefully they'd be able to reassemble it, assuming that what they were about to do to the diamond wouldn't damage it.

They all stared down at the glittering gem for a long moment before Jack looked up and scanned their faces. "Now we really get to work. Rob, is that board free yet?"

"Just about," Rob said. He blinked as he turned away from the table and headed back over to where he had been working. He felt a renewed hope that they'd be able to get this thing finally functional and that this time it would work. He bent down and started working again, carefully extracting the cables from the housing. Julia took a chair off to one side while Sherry went to go do her coffee rounds, which was why she had come upstairs in the first place.

Ianto disappeared briefly and came back with a polishing cloth which he used to clean his fingerprints off the diamond before putting it down on the table again. He also carefully catalogued the different parts of the sceptre and how they went together so they could put it back in one piece. That was, if they didn't break the diamond in the first place with what they were going to do to it. Jack watched as he carefully placed the different parts of the sceptre back in its box and set it aside.

"Right," he said with a clap of his hands. "Ianto, if you would be so kind as to clean off those old crystals, we won't need them anymore." Ianto nodded and moved over to the mound of small gems he had extracted. He found a box to put them in for storage before junking the rest of the cases into a bin. Jack watched Rob as he carefully removed the last couple of wires from the edge of the chassis before looking up at his boss.

"Ready," he said with a nod. He handed the board over to Jack, who carried it back to the table where the Star of Africa was nestled in the pile of fabric where Ianto had placed it at the center of the table. He sat down and examined the board for any possible defects which might possibly cause a problem. He absently accepted the mug that Sherry handed to him and put it off to the side while he continued his inspection.

Ianto smiled at Sherry as she handed over his mug of coffee. They turned where they stood and looked at Jack.

"Think this will work?" Sherry asked. Ianto smiled and nodded.

"Yes, if only because it means that it will no doubt damage a priceless British artifact," he said in a dry tone.

"I heard that," Jack said and Ianto winked at his great, great grandniece. "And I'll have you know that the first time they tried to cut the Cullinan, they broke their tools in the process. This thing is sturdier than you're giving it credit for," he went on. "Have a little faith, Ianto."

"Oh, I do," Ianto said with a nod. "Faith that we'll irreparably damage it in some way," he said with a smile. Jack cast a look of disgust in his direction before returning his focus back to the board in front of him. Rob chuckled softly as he went about cleaning up the mess he had made at his workstation.


	78. Chapter 78

"Jack, do you think I need to get you another board as a backup?" Rob asked. Jack looked over at the cart and shook his head.

"None of those will really work for what I want to do. Let's see how this goes, and if I think we'll need a backup, Ianto can search for another board for us."

"Why don't I do it now?" Ianto asked as he walked over to where the two men stood. "Better to be prepared and all. And I'd feel more comfortable not putting all my eggs in one basket." Jack smiled up at him.

"If you want," he said with a nod. "We'll need something at least this size." He looked down at the board in front of him. "Even larger would be better if this one doesn't work." Ianto nodded and walked over to his console, coffee in hand. Jack stared after him with a slight smile on his face before returning his attention to what he was doing.

Ianto had left his search parameters up on the system and so was able to narrow the definitions to something more specific. Finding some promising leads, he jotted down the archive numbers and went down to retrieve them. He took the cart back down with him, since it was no longer needed. Unloading the contents in the area that used to be his lower office and was now Sherry's, he stacked the items so that they could be returned to their proper places. Then, checking the note he had made to himself, he went down to the next level.

Downstairs, he walked quickly towards the deep storage areas. These were rooms that he had rarely gone, even when he was doing more active archiving. He smiled to himself as he walked. Sometimes he felt like he could walk forever down there and not see everything that was stored there. And he could only imagine how things might slip through the cracks with improper classification.

His footsteps echoed in the empty corridors as he made his way deeper into the archives. He wondered if they were going to get the Kralyro system up and running in enough time for it to be useful. He was feeling that they were currently on borrowed time, and it was just a matter of days before the assassins struck again. Pulling a key out of his pocket, he inserted it into the door and opened it. He winced at the sound that the hinges made as it swung open. Definitely not the place to do any hide and seek, he thought to himself with a smile. Shaking himself to get back on his focused task, he stepped inside and turned on the light.

There were racks of boxes lined up in a very neat and orderly fashion. His eyes swept past the numbering system on the end of each rack and he walked over to the first one on his list. Finding that easily enough, he walked down the aisle, the overhead lights automatically turning on as he moved further between the two racks. Coming to the section he wanted, he pulled on the box he was searching for and brought it out and down to the floor. Opening the box, he sifted through the contents until he found a large device at the bottom. The label he had put on it many years before reflected the light back into his eyes and he nodded in satisfaction. Pulling that out of the box, he put the cover back on and placed it on the shelf. Picking up the artifact, he carried it to the door before going to the next rack. He found the second artifact fairly easily and carried the two upstairs to his cart before returning back down again for more.

Three trips later, and he had a good selection for Jack to choose from. He felt better knowing that they had everything on hand rather than having to scramble with the aliens invading. He made some notations on Sherry's desk about what he took, adding to his earlier list before pushing the cart into the lift to bring up to the main level. This time the cart wasn't as heavily laden and he was able to move it up to the playroom by himself. Todd glanced up briefly to see if he needed help, but after seeing that he was doing okay, went back to his program. Rob moved away from where he was watching Jack modify the wiring and he met Ianto just as the other man pushed the cart into the playroom.

"Anything good?" He asked. Ianto shrugged. It was up to Jack whether any of it would be useful.

"Jack?" Rob called. "Want to take a look at these and see if any of them will make a good alternative? If so, I can then pull it apart and have it ready should you need it."

Jack looked up from where he was focused on modifying the circuit board. "What? Oh, sure." He stood up and stretched before grabbing his cooling coffee mug and drinking from it. He walked over to where the two men stood and surveyed Ianto's latest finds. "Hmmm," he said as he turned one over to examine it. "Haven't seen Prerillian text in a long time." Ianto and Rob exchanged a glance but didn't say anything as he continued to examine the selection on the cart. Finally, he picked the largest one and nodded to Rob. "This will do in a pinch."

Rob nodded and hefted the large artifact off the cart and over to his work area. He picked up his tools and started pulling the top off to see what he was going to have to do to get the thing out of the casing. Ianto watched him for a few minutes before turning towards Jack, who had gone back to the table where his board lay. He walked over so that he was standing behind Jack.

"Once you get this set up, do we need to encase it at all?" He asked Jack. Jack considered his question for a moment before shaking his head.

"No, I plan on attaching this to the unit itself. Hopefully I can do so on the side where it won't be as vulnerable," Jack said. "The pull is going to be pretty instantaneous, so it will be a brief surge of power. What I want to make sure is that the board will hold up long enough for us to do it." Ianto nodded.

"And how does it work?" He asked Jack. Jack gave him a quizzical look. "What I mean is, I know you explained how it worked, but once it's functioning, how do we know it will do what it is supposed to do? And where exactly will whatever we pull in show up?" Jack nodded in understanding.

"We'll know it will work when I get the right responses to the queries with Todd's program," Jack said. "And there's a definite sequence that needs to be triggered for it to work. As for where they'll show up? Right at the nose." Jack pointed to the end of the Kralyro ship. "All we have to do is make sure we can contain them."

"Would the portable prison generator be a good idea to have on hand?" Ianto asked. Jack thought about it and nodded.

"Couldn't hurt. It's in the safe," he said. Ianto nodded and went to get it. He came back a few minutes later with a small stone like device that he placed on his desk where he could find it again if he needed it in a hurry.

"What about a backup?" Rob asked. Jack looked at him and he continued. "What if for some reason, we make a mistake and one of the Thral'dor come through the portal? How do we protect Mrs. Davies?"

"It won't happen," Jack said confidently. He looked back down to what he was working on. Rob shared a troubled look with Ianto.

"I still would feel better if we have some sort of plan for this, Jack," Rob said in a quiet voice. Jack sighed. He hated thinking of contingency plans. It meant that his main plan might not work, and he didn't want to consider that. However, he knew that Rob was right. He looked up at where Rob and Ianto were standing by his table.

"Work something up," he said. Rob nodded and headed off to his area to finish extracting the board. He gestured for Ianto to follow him. Ianto pulled up a stool next to Rob and they put their heads together while Rob worked on pulling the housing off of the board in the artifact. Jack listened to them talk, a half smile on his face as they kicked around ideas.


	79. Chapter 79

"Okay, what did you find out in your autopsy that we can use in terms of constructing something that would either capture this thing or at least protect Sian?" Rob asked. Ianto pulled out a PDA and started looking at his notes.

"Well, we know that iron or ferrous based items can hurt them, so we can either create a cage to contain it upon entry, or a cage that we can place Sian in to protect her," Ianto started. He suggested some ideas and the two men kicked around options as well as how they could put something together. After some time talking, Ianto lifted his head and looked at Jack.

"Jack?" He asked. Jack grunted in reply. He was in the middle of soldering another bracket onto the board and the angle was making his work difficult. "Where are we going to set this trap? Here, or elsewhere in the Hub?"

"Probably out by the water tower," Jack said. "It's not like we can move the Kralyro nosecone very far." Ianto nodded and stood up. He walked over to the large artifact and circled it, a thoughtful look on his face. Rob watched him for a moment before focusing back on his work. Ianto moved out into the central area and stood his hands on his hips as he looked around. He considered the large ceiling with Myfanwy circling about overhead, and then looked back at the play area. His gaze moved over all of the computer equipment surrounding the water tower and then back again. He nodded thoughtfully.

"Okay," Ianto said. "If we do it here, we have a space we can contain them," he said, pointing out the lower ceiling and the walls. "We can probably block off the open area, so they can't get further. Out in the main area, we'd have to protect the computers as well as the rift manipulator. There's a lot of stuff that can get damaged, as well as areas they can get into that we wouldn't want them to go." Rob nodded in response.

"What we need is either a way to block this off," he said, indicating the open area past the low ceiling. "Or contain them upon entry through the jump." Ianto looked at the open space and thought for a long moment.

"We still also have the issue of how to protect Sian, even if this area is contained," he commented. Rob nodded.

"Anything in the archives resembling a cage?" He asked. Ianto's brows rose up at Rob's question. At Ianto's look he explained. "Well, if we have something made of iron to put her in, she'd be safe. They couldn't get to her, right?"

Ianto nodded. He started pacing, deep in thought. "I think we just might have something. Rob, can I get you to come down with me?" He looked over at the other man who put down his tools and nodded. "It's down on the 4th level." Rob stood up and dusted off his hands. Jack watched them out of the corner of his eye until they had retreated down through one of the arches leading down to the lower areas.

"Jack?" Todd called. Jack looked up.

"Yeah?" He responded. Todd lifted a hand and beckoned him over to the computer console where he was working. Jack put the soldering iron back in the holder, ignoring the small wisp of smoke as the excess solder burned off the tip. He stood up and stretched, then walked over to where Todd sat at the console. "What do you have?"

"A working prototype program," Todd told him. He showed Jack the screen with the program. "It's just finishing the compile now. See if this will do what you want." Jack watched as the window in front of Todd quickly passed a lot of text as it finished compiling, ending finally with a pop up saying it had completed the work. Todd clicked an icon on the desktop and an interface popped up. Jack leaned closer and looked at it. It had the basic functions he wanted. Todd had done good work. "My only worry is how you're going to tie that into the device," Todd told him.

"Don't worry about that, I can get that working," Jack assured him. Todd looked a bit skeptical, but in light of Jack's confidence really couldn't say anything. Jack clasped him on the shoulder. "I'll be right back." He bounded off in the direction of his office, disappearing for a while before coming back with a box. He placed the box on Todd's desk and leaned down to connect it to the computer port. "Let's get this hooked up and transmitted to my wristband. Then I can test it once we have power to the thing."

Todd nodded and watched as the box connected up to his console. Jack nodded when a light came on one side. "Okay, drag the program over to the box on the desktop. That will transmit it to my manipulator here." Todd did as he asked and Jack flipped open the cover on his wristband and hit a button. A moment later he confirmed that the transfer was completed and he smiled. "Got it! Good job, Todd!" Todd smiled at the praise.

"Thanks," he said. He was still unsure whether any of this would work, but in the face of Jack's confidence, he had to believe it would. Jack disconnected the device from Todd's computer and took the box back to his office before returning back to his work.

They worked quietly, Sherry making the coffee rounds to those that were there. Julia sat at her desk, unable to focus on her work. The rift was what she would consider ominously quiet at the moment. Under normal circumstances, there was always something little making the alarms go off, and the fact that it was so quiescent made her nervous. She pulled up the rift stats and saw that all was calm. In fact, the predictor was showing more of the same for the rest of the day. Not that it was always accurate, but it was fairly reliable. She stared at the screen for a long moment, pondering whether this meant that something big was about to come through. Sighing, she reached for the cup of tea that Sherry had placed next to her.

Jack was working diligently, focused wholly on the job. He ignored the coffee in favor of getting the work done. He felt that they were currently on borrowed time, and his brow was furrowed as he concentrated on getting the brackets mounted into the board and getting the circuits modified so he could use it as a power supply. He was unaware of the passage of time, though he knew that Ianto and Rob had been gone for some time. Briefly, he glanced up at the Kralyro device and hoped that he was going to make it work properly. He could be pretty inventive when he had to be, but even for him this was new territory. In theory, his idea should work. But he had years of experience that told him theories seldom worked the way they should. He looked back down at the board in front of him and started double checking connections. They couldn't afford for this to fail. Not if they were going to save Sian Davies' life in the process.


	80. Chapter 80

The clatter of metal banging against something made the team look up and stare. A few moments later, Ianto and Rob were carrying something flat into the main Hub space. Carefully maneuvering through all of the equipment, they brought it up into the playroom.

"What is that?" Julia asked with a frown. It looked like stacked metal fencing, and judging by the expressions on the two men, it was rather heavy.

"Something from Torchwood's past," Ianto huffed. He nodded to Rob and the two men carefully let go of one edge. They rested it on its end before they began to unfold it. Julia got up from where she was sitting and joined Todd where he stood as they watched the two men assemble it.

"A cage?" Julia hazarded. As they squared the box, a smaller bit dropped down to form the bottom. Ianto unhinged one side and stepped into the cage. He reached up and moved another part upwards to form a roof. It creaked into position with a loud screech of metal against metal that made the other two members wince as they watched.

"Sorry about that," Ianto apologized. Jack had looked up and was watching the two men work. He nodded to himself. Ianto secured the clasps that held the top and bottom onto the sides and a moment later, the box stood on its own. "There."

"This is for Sian?" Julia asked. She moved forward and walked around the cage. Ianto was still inside and was testing the sturdiness of the frame by pushing on each wall. Rob closed the doorway, shutting Ianto inside.

"What do you think?" Rob asked. The bars were narrow and someone with a small hand could probably reach in or out, but otherwise it looked pretty secure. Ianto had turned in a circle, examining the cage. He nodded.

"It will do," he decided. Rob opened the door and Ianto stepped out. Together, the two men positioned the cage at the far end of the room opposite the nose of the Kralyro artifact.

"Where did that come from?" Julia asked.

"Dead storage," Ianto said. "It was originally a Faraday cage. Probably earlier teams used it for protection when doing experiments. It's metal, so it should hold the Thral'dor off should they escape us and go after Sian. " Rob nodded in agreement.

"We'll need to put a chair or something for her in there," he noted. Ianto agreed and said he'd look for a wooden chair for her to sit on. Hopefully it wouldn't be for long. Rob wandered over to where Jack was working and saw that he had made good progress on his modifications. Jack glanced up at him and smiled before looking back down again. He was rerouting the flow over the circuits on the board to distribute it better. Hopefully, that way it wouldn't blow in the process. Rob watched as Jack worked carefully. A lot was riding on their ability to make this thing work. And they still needed to come up with a plan for how they were going to stop this assassin, even if they were able to pull him back into the past.

Ianto came back with a straight back wooden chair which he placed inside the cage. He sat down at it and stared across at the cone of the Kralyro ship, trying to imagine what it would be like to be Sian sitting there and experiencing whatever was going to happen. He wasn't too comfortable with the idea of placing her that close to the action, but knew that they needed her to draw the next attempt to where they could control what happened. He only hoped that they could deal with whatever came out of the timeswarm without getting themselves killed in the process.

Julia walked around the cage and met Ianto's worried gaze. She knew exactly what he was thinking. She opened the door and stepped inside. "Mmmm, comfy," she said.

"I'll get a cushion for this chair so she can be a bit more comfortable," Ianto said. He met Julia's gaze. "It's not ideal, but it will protect her and give us time we need to subdue whomever it is that comes through from the other side." Julia pursed her lips as she thought and nodded in agreement. They all felt that they were running out of time, and this did present itself as the best solution. She left the cage as Ianto stood up and he followed her out through the door.

"What else are we going to need?" She asked as she thought. Ianto looked around the space, his gaze going to the open area which led to the rest of the work area. "A means to retain them if they get loose."

"Yes," Ianto acknowledged. He thought about what they might have in the archives that could be put up as a barrier. Absently rubbing the back of his neck, he thought about what options they had.

"I've got something in my vault," Jack said from behind them and the two operatives spun around. He paused where he had been working on the circuit board. "A low level force field which we can use to block off the area. Ianto, you can find it somewhere in the vault records. Take a look and retrieve that, please."

Ianto nodded and headed over to Jack's office, leaving Julia standing next to the cage. She walked over to where Jack had gone back to his work. Leaning on the table, she stared at him.

"Yes?" He asked as he rerouted a circuit pathway using a thin strip of wire. He didn't look up at her as he was working.

"So, what do we do when we pull whomever it is in through the opening?" Julia asked. "We should come up with some sort of plan, shouldn't we?"

"I thought we could just wing it," Jack said with a tiny smile. He glanced up to see Julia didn't look at all pleased by that idea. He looked back down again and concentrated on what he was doing.

"Jack," Julia said in a soft voice remonstrating him for his comment. "This is too important to just 'wing it,' as you've said. I think we need to have a plan."

"She's right," Rob said from where he sat, having finally extracted the board he had been working on from the housing of the artifact. "We don't know who or what we're going to pull through, if this thing even works in the first place. If it does, we need to be prepared. If it's the assassin, presumably bringing them here will stop the attempts, because they'll be here. "

Julia looked from one man to the other. "And if it is the assassin, who's to say that their employer isn't going to just hire another one when they disappear?"

"How exact is this thing, anyhow?" Rob went on to say. "Does it grab everything in the room on the other side? Open a doorway and we pull them through? We can't even test it until we need it, and that makes me nervous."

Jack sighed. They both had valid points, but at this point, he didn't think he had much else to work with. "Look guys, I know it isn't perfect. It's untested, and will have to remain so until the event. I know that isn't great, but we very well can't recreate a timeswarm to test here.

"As for what it will do? I'm working on theory here, kids. It hasn't been tried before. No one has had a need or the components we have here," he went on. "But I'm doing the best I can with what I have."

"And your best is usually good enough," Ianto said from where he had come from Jack's office with a box in his hands. "I know whatever it is we do, it will work in some fashion or other." Jack smiled up at Ianto as he placed the box on the table next to where Jack was working.


	81. Chapter 81

"Was that a backhanded compliment?" Jack asked him with a smile. Ianto cocked an eyebrow at him and smiled. "Either way, I think I'll take it."

"It's not like we have any other options," Ianto said quietly. "We will just have to trust it to work. I'm sure it will do something. We'll just have to wait and see what."

"Oh, that fills me with confidence," Rob said with a laugh. Ianto grinned at him.

"I don't believe that either team building or confidence boosting were in my job description," Ianto said with a wink. "Come to think of it, I don't think I've actually seen a job description."

"Back to that again?" Jack mumbled as he looked down at what he was doing. He was trying to hide a grin. The topic of a job description had popped up several times in the past until it had become a running joke between the two men. Usually, Ianto's description was whatever Jack fancied it was at the moment he was asked. But it had never been put into writing.

"Well, I'm sure that if one asked the labour board, there would be an inquiry," Ianto told him. "There has to be some rule about these sorts of things."

"Ah yes," Jack said as he looked up with a sardonic grin. "But which labour board? The one from 2010, or 2135? And how exactly would you explain the longevity of your employment where you were willing to work without a description for so long? Don't you think they'd find that to be a little suspicious?"

"Wonder what the board would think if they ever saw the inside of this place," Ianto muttered as he walked away to make coffee. Jack laughed softly. Ianto could be heard complaining about the unfair working conditions, the long hours and the lack of regular breaks as he worked the machine in the kitchenette. Jack leaned back after mounting the last of the brackets and stood to stretch out stiff muscles. He turned and watched as Ianto worked his coffee magic. As good as Sherry's coffee was, it still couldn't compare to Ianto's. Jack leaned against a nearby pillar as he considered Ianto's complaints. As Ianto walked over with the coffee tray, he deliberately skirted around Jack, serving the others first. Jack grinned, content to watch Ianto move about.

When Jack was the only one left, Ianto turned towards him with the last mug on the tray. He extended it towards the captain with an impassive Jeeves face that amused Jack even more.

"Why Ianto, you shouldn't have," Jack said softly as he reached for the mug, only to have Ianto move the tray away. Jack kept his hand out, waiting patiently until Ianto brought the tray back again. "Thank you."

"I do my best, sir," Ianto said. Jack stared at him. Ianto hadn't called him that in an official capacity for a long time. In that time, the term had changed meaning for them both, and Jack quickly glanced around at the others before minutely shaking his head. Ianto just gave him a wink before turning away with the empty tray. Jack opened his mouth to say something when the alarms went off. He swore softly and turned towards Todd. "Please tell me that it's an errant bird tripping the alarms," he asked the young computer specialist.

"Only if said bird is about the size of Myfanwy," Todd told him. Jack groaned and walked over to where Todd was standing. Together, they looked at the display which was compiling information about the alert. Todd peered closer. "It's organic," he said as he read the little squiggles that didn't mean much to Jack because he just couldn't be bothered to interpret it when he had people perfectly capable of doing that for him. "Large as well." Jack let out a gust of breath. He could feel Ianto standing behind him and he turned around.

"You and me this time?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded and put the tray on an empty space. "I just hope this isn't the beginning of another rift run culminating with a timeswarm," Jack muttered. The two men waited for Todd to get some more details. Todd pulled up the local CCTV and started pulling up images in an attempt to identify what they were up against.

"Barry Island," Todd said as he started searching through the camera angles, comparing it to the rift map. "Promenade somewhere." Jack watched over his shoulder as he finally pulled up an image. The two men just stared at the image for a moment. Ianto moved so that he could see around Jack.

"Shit," he muttered. Jack nodded grimly. They were looking at a rather large alien, more like a dinosaur. People were running away from it as it stumbled about. It was caught in some electrical lines and it was obvious that the sparks were hurting it.

"Rob, we're going to need you with us," Jack said. Rob had looked up at Ianto's exclamation. It was the first time he had heard the man swear, so he knew it had to be something bad. Rob nodded and got up from where he was and walked over to Todd's station. His eyes grew wider as he took in the size of the alien in comparison to the building behind it.

"I'll go get my rifles," he murmured and walked past them quickly down to the armoury. Ianto asked Todd to get as much detail as possible while Jack got on the phone to the local constabulary and let them know that Torchwood was on its way. Rob returned after a few minutes, several cases slung over his shoulder. Jack nodded grimly and the three men headed out the back exit to the UAV.

Ianto opted for the back area so he could monitor the CCTV from there. Rob slung the rifles on the floor behind him and got into the passenger seat, letting Jack drive. Jack turned on the sirens and blew out of the underground garage, using his control of the traffic lights to give them a clear path across the Bay and over to Barry. They made good time that way, and the local police had done a good job of getting people away from the giant behemoth that had invaded the promenade.

"Ianto, see if you can tie into the electrical system over on Barry Island and shut it down," Jack said over his shoulder as he drove.

"Are we sure we want to do that before we get there?" Rob asked. "Right now, that's distracting it from hurting anyone intentionally. We don't know what will happen once it stops." Jack considered his words for a long moment. They heard another bellow of pain coming from the CCTV feed and Jack's jaw clenched.

"Just do it, Ianto," he instructed the man behind him. Ianto nodded and worked his way into the power plant for the island and did a localized shutdown of the promenade area. The cameras flickered as they went over to emergency backup power. He watched intently while the beast stood shuddering for a long moment before carefully lying down where it was.

"It's settled down," Ianto informed the two men in the front. Jack nodded and kept on driving. Rob chewed on a hangnail, worried that something would happen before they got there. Eventually, they were on Harbour Rd. Beyond that was the roundabout and the side road that would lead to the promenade. Jack blared his horn as he came into the roundabout, warning people that they were moving at speed. Traffic was light, thankfully, and he was able to make the turn onto Paget Rd. and down to the promenade. He swore when he saw that the area was blocked off to traffic.

"Don't even think of it," Rob said. He knew that Jack had considered just plowing through the barriers, but there was too much foot traffic about for that to be safe. Jack sighed and pulled up in front of the barriers blocking the way.

Ianto took one last look at the monitors before transferring the information to his portable rift monitor and getting out the back. Rob hefted his cases and followed Jack, who was already headed along the walkway towards where the alien had appeared. They had to fight their way through the crowd, and Jack was fast losing patience.

"Out of my way! Torchwood here! Let me through!" He shouted. Eventually he just shoved his way through, ignoring the cries of people as they were pushed out of the way. Rob grimly followed him, with Ianto slipping through the narrow passageway the other two men opened in front of him. He kept his head down, not wanting to have to face the people who were complaining.

They finally got through the crowd and Jack spoke with the constable who was holding people back far enough to be away from any danger. The man reluctantly let them pass, and the three men were finally able to pick up their pace and get closer.

They paused at a safe distance and gazed upwards. Jack crossed his arms and started trying to think of something that they could do.

"Call UNIT and have them do a flyover and drop a net?" Rob suggested in a low voice. He didn't think his guns were going to do anything significant, even if he had wanted to shoot the poor alien beast. Jack looked thoughtful at the idea. Their gaze moved upwards as they took in the true height of the creature.

"Go, go, Godzilla?" Ianto asked quietly as the creature stood upright and accidentally pulled the lamppost out of the ground, causing it to crash down to the ground. Jack gave him a sardonic look, and Rob just had a puzzled frown on his face at Ianto's comment. "Childhood movie character," Ianto told him.

"Okay, how do we deal with this?" Jack wondered out loud. He had his hand in his pocket to grab his mobile, but wanted to see if there was any other idea that might work better. He really hated asking for UNIT's help.

"It's thrashing about because it's being hurt by the power," Ianto observed. "I only cut the main power, but obviously that central building has a backup generator of some sort. What if we cut the power?"

"Then maybe it will start wandering around," Rob said. "That may be worse." Jack motioned for them to stay where they were and took a few steps forward. He examined the creature closely and made an abrupt decision.

"Rob, do it," he told the other man. Rob hesitated, looking doubtful and Jack gave him a pointed stare. "Now, please." Rob nodded reluctantly and after handing one of the rifles to Ianto to hold he moved, giving the alien a wide berth. He went around the building to the electrical transformer in the back. Ianto looked at the rifle bag in his hands, then up at the alien creature. His instincts were telling him not to use the gun. He slung it over his shoulder. They stood and waited.


	82. Chapter 82

They knew immediately when Rob had cut the power. The alien stopped shaking and slowly dropped down to the ground with a soft sigh. Jack and Ianto exchanged a glance. It didn't seem inclined to go on a rampage, it just looked happy that it was no longer being electrocuted. Jack took that as an encouraging sign and holstered his gun. He motioned for Ianto to stay back and he worked his way around until he was facing the alien. Its eyes were closed and it was breathing in small pants as it recovered from its ordeal.

Jack looked at it intently, noting the large hand or paw that was not too far away from where he stood. He cocked his head to one side. The nails looked blunt, almost as if they had been cut. A sinuous tongue slipped out of the mouth and tested the air and his attention went back to the head. It knew someone was there. He took a deep breath and decided to introduce himself.

"Hello there," He said with a smile. "Sorry for your problems. We didn't mean you any harm." One eye opened at the sound of his voice and he could see different colors whirl about as the alien brought him into focus. "I don't know if you can understand me. My name is Jack, and I'm here to help you." The other eye opened and the alien shifted its head slightly so it could see him with both eyes. "I hope you can understand me."

Ianto stayed where he was at first, but something prompted him to move forward. The alien's attention moved off Jack as Ianto stepped up behind him. Jack marveled at the multi-faceted eyes, the colors changing as the alien changed its depth of field and focused on Ianto. Ianto smiled, being careful not to show his teeth in case that was a sign of aggression.

"She's beautiful," he said softly to Jack. Jack nodded and then gave Ianto a curious look.

"She?" He asked. Ianto nodded. "What makes you say that?"

"I don't know," Ianto admitted. "I just know it." He glanced at Jack before returning his attention to the creature before him. "Just like I know she won't hurt us," he continued.

"That's a pretty big assumption," Rob said softly as he came up behind the two men. He had been watching from the side of the building, and he was feeling the same thing Ianto was, but was more skeptical of why he felt it. He wondered if the beast could project emphatic emotions as a way to get prey to stand still long enough to grab. Somehow, he felt that assumption was wrong, but he was still cautious enough to hang back.

Jack looked from one man to the other. The promenade was silent. Off in the distance he could hear sirens approaching and hoped that someone wasn't going to be stupid. He sighed. "Rob, do us a favor and go run interference. Somehow I don't think our friend here means any harm, and I don't want the locals stirring up trouble if they jump to conclusions." Rob nodded. He was reluctant to leave them alone, but knew that Jack was right. He started backing off, hoping he wasn't leaving them to some horrible fate.

Ianto slipped the rifle bag off his shoulder and placed it carefully on the ground. He then stood back up and moved so that he was standing right next to Jack.

"Do you feel that?" He asked Jack. Jack looked at him for further explanation. "A feeling of incredible peace." He smiled and closed his eyes. It was definitely coming from the alien. Jack closed his eyes and tried to see what he meant. He could just feel something. He wasn't sure what, but he obviously wasn't feeling it to the extent that Ianto was. He knew that Ianto had some psychic training as part of working at Torchwood One, or perhaps he was just more open to that. Jack tended to be resistive to telepathic coercion and so perhaps wasn't as open as Ianto was to the experience.

"What else?" Jack asked softly. The look on Ianto's face was pretty amazing. He opened his eyes and smiled at Jack.

"I think she's trying to communicate," Ianto said. He turned back to the alien and bowed. "Hello, welcome to Earth. My name is Ianto," he said as he stood up again. The alien focused on him and the tongue flicked out again to test the air. Ianto tried to think of how to project a feeling of welcome. He wasn't sure he knew how, but then decided he could just let her know how he felt about her by showing his admiration for her. He concentrated on that, not knowing if he was successful.

The alien stared at the two men intently. She moved her foot to get more comfortable and stopped when the movement was curtailed by the power line which was twisted around it. She looked at it and shook her foot. The cables just snaked around it a bit tighter and she let out a gusty sigh.

"Let me help," Ianto said. Before Jack could stop him, he moved closer. Arriving at her foot, he looked at the mess of cables which were tangled around her. He gently reached out and grabbed a loose end, then looked up at her. She had pulled her head back when he approached and had one eye focused on him curiously. Taking that for acquiescence, he started untangling the cable from around her foot.

When Jack saw that she wasn't doing anything other than watching Ianto, he moved in to help. The cable was heavy, and Ianto wasn't going to be able to do it all on his own. Together, the two men worked to free her front foot from the tangle of twisted cable that had once been connected to the building behind them. It took them a while, but eventually they got her foot free. She pulled it back and flexed the toes as if making sure that they hadn't been harmed. Jack helped Ianto push the tangled bundle of wires off to the side before returning back to face her.

Jack was surprised when she quite deliberately bowed her head in their direction. Ianto smiled.

"Oh, I do think that is better, don't you?" He asked her. She carefully placed her foot back down on the ground and settled herself more comfortably. He surveyed her and noted that more of the cable snaked over her back and had been tangled up in one of her back feet and tail. "We could help with the rest," he told her. He closed his eyes and tried to project an image of himself removing the rest of the cables. A moment later, he almost staggered at the feeling of longing that came back to him. Jack reached out a hand to steady him as he swayed.

"What?" Jack asked anxiously.

"Just a powerful emotion," Ianto told him as he opened his eyes. "I think she'd be forever grateful if we could get her free."

"Well, I'm not one to deny a lady anything," Jack said lightly. He moved around the side of the alien, knowing that she had turned her head to follow his movements. He surveyed the tangle of cables. "It would be easier to cut them than to try and lift them," he commented. Making a decision, he activated his com. "Rob?"

"Sir?" Came Rob's reply into their earphones.

"Do we have anything like a wire cutter or something we can use to release this little lady from the power cables?" Jack asked. Silence met his question.

"Not exactly the way I'd describe her," Rob came back with a chuckle. "I'll take a look. There may also be something that the grounds people have that we can use. I'll check and get back to you."

"Sounds good," Jack said. He was beginning to feel more of what Ianto was feeling as the proximity to the alien left him with a sense of well-being. He could feel the gratitude for what they had done so far, so while he waited for Rob to get back to him, he walked around to her tail. It was awkwardly bent as the restricting cables twisted around it. He put his hands on his hips and sighed.

"You're feeling it now, too, right?" Ianto said softly. Jack nodded. He couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah," he replied. "While we wait for Rob, let's see if we can start on this part," he suggested as he looked at the tail. Ianto nodded, and the two men moved over to where they found the end of the cable sticking out. Together, they both worked the first knot free. The cable was heavy, the twisted wires encased in a not so flexible conduit. It was tough going, and they knew it was only one of several lines wrapped around their new friend. The alien had twisted her head around to watch them curiously. It was tough going, but they kept on working, each tugging and pulling to loosen the constriction around the tail.

"Jack," Rob's voice came through the com and both men paused as they listened.

"Yeah, find anything?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, bringing it around now," Rob said. He was walking towards them and didn't see them at first. "Where are you?"

"At the tail," Jack said. "She's pretty tangled up here, and it's hurting her."

Rob didn't reply. He finally reached the area where the alien was and nodded once as she swiveled her head around to look at him. She tilted her head and followed him as he moved around the other side to where Ianto and Jack stood. Jack turned at the sound of his footsteps and smiled.

"Perfect!" Jack said as he spied what Rob was holding. He took the proffered industrial cutters and started working on the cable in front of him. "Let's see if this works." Ianto actually had to take one end and lean on it to provide enough support so Jack could press his body weight down on the other arm. They had to try several times before the cable finally split with a soft snick of sound. "One down, two dozen to go!" Jack said with a grin at Ianto. Ianto grinned back at him and the two men moved over to another cable, working together to cut that one as well.

Rob just stood and watched. He was still skeptical about this, but it was obvious that the alien was being careful not to get in the way. Nor had she attempted to lash out at either man. Rather, she watched them curiously as they worked, her head cocked to one side as she followed their banter back and forth as they talked. Rob wondered if she could understand them, or was just following the sound.

He turned and scanned the crowd off in the distance. They were still milling about, trying to see what was going on, but so far, the police were holding them back. He watched the two men for a few moments and decided that he would be more in the way than a help if he joined in, so he went back to the crowd to make sure no one got through and inadvertently caused an incident.

"So?" The local constable asked Rob as he approached. Rob shrugged and said nothing. The man peered behind him. "We need to go get the heavy guns?" He man seemed almost eager to do it.

"No!" Rob said. "It's being sorted. Just stay here and watch the crowd. No need to go half cocked when it isn't necessary," he grumbled. The man looked rather disappointed at his reply.


	83. Chapter 83

Back on the promenade, Ianto and Jack worked steadily at cutting and removing the power cables. It was slow going, and soon both men were feeling like they were getting quite a workout. The effort of cutting the cables was hard work, and once they finally cut enough to detangle the tail, they took a break. Jack sat down on the ground and panted.

"Whew!" He said as he wiped away the sweat which was rolling down the side of his face. Ianto was leaning on the cutters, and nodded tiredly. The alien watched them curiously for a few moments before she carefully moved her tail, flexing it back and forth. Then she curled it around both men. Jack looked up and Ianto smiled.

"I think she's offering us a seat," Ianto said. He was clearly feeling the invitation, so decided to take her up on it. He carefully sat down on the mid part of the tail and sighed. "Thank you!" he said thankfully. Jack sat and watched him for a long moment as he gently stroked the skin under his hands. They both heard a low thrumming sound as the alien responded to his caresses.

"Careful, you might be making a pass," Jack teased. Ianto chuckled and shook his head. One track mind, Jack Harkness had, he thought ruefully. Jack got up and moved over to where Ianto sat and put his hand on the scaled tail. It was surprisingly silky smooth and quite warm. He looked up and saw that she was watching him. Taking that for an invitation, he sat down next to Ianto, their thighs touching one another. "Thank you, lady," Jack said. She dipped her head, as if understanding what he had said. Jack grinned.

Ianto surveyed the rest of the cable that tangled the base of the tail and the back foot. "You know, if we cut the cable on top, we should be able to loosen that bit around the base of her tail. Then cut the bit between her toes, and we can get the foot free." Jack followed where he was talking about and nodded.

"Yeah, that would work," he said. He patted Ianto's thigh. "Ready to get back to work?"

"Yeah," Ianto smiled at him. Jack grinned. He was having fun. It was nice to run into an alien who was intelligent, kind and not trying to kill them. And it felt good being able to help her. He wasn't sure what they were going to do once she was free, but they could figure that out later. He tapped his com. "Todd?"

"Yes, sir?" Todd's voice replied in their earcoms. "I'm watching you on the CCTV with Julia and Sherry. How's it going?"

"Getting there," Jack said as he patted the alien's tail in thanks as he stood up. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure," Todd responded. "What's that?"

"Can you go back and do a search of the energy signature for the rift spike when our friend here came through? I don't know if we can find a matching one where we can send her back home, but it would be nice to see if we could," Jack said.

"Sure thing, boss," Todd said. He started a program running and was silent for a few minutes. "I'll let you know if I find anything."

"Thanks," Jack told him. When he signed off, he looked at Ianto. "Back to work?"

"Absolutely," Ianto agreed. He took Jack's hand and stood up. "Now, I hope she doesn't mind if I get a little personal here," he said with a grin as he walked towards the base of her tail. The alien snaked her head around to follow what he was doing. The longer he was around her, the more he was picking up the emphatic projections from her. He felt a curious regard, but no concern as he walked up to her flank and he tested the cable. It had wound itself around her tail, got under her and was restricting both back feet.

Ianto worked his way around her tail to the other side. "It's tight over here, so if you're going to cut it, you're going to have to do it from your side," he told Jack. Jack tried to slide his fingers under the cable, but it was difficult. He shook his head.

"I can't even get my fingers under it. We're going to have to cut it further away and get some slack," he told Ianto. Ianto had come back around and now knelt down as he examined the complex tangle of the electrical wires.

"Over here, maybe?" He pointed to a cable that was stretched from the leg to somewhere underneath the alien. It was taut. "We'll have to be careful so it doesn't whip back and hurt her, though." Jack nodded.

"Okay, get some of the stuff we discarded and wrap it around one side, and I'll do the same with the other. We can then pull it away from her body so that when it gets cut, it will pull the cable down, rather than let it recoil back into her," Jack said. Ianto nodded and went to go get some of the bits of cable they had already cut away. The alien watched curiously as they worked. Ianto tied a loop around part of the cable while Jack did the same on the other side. Then they worked to anchor it to the building. Moving back to the middle, they picked up the cutters and together worked at cutting the cable.

"Watch your face," Jack told Ianto. He didn't want the cable coming up and hitting him when it was released. Ianto nodded and shifted himself so that his back was more to where the cable was going to be when it was cut. It took them several more minutes to saw through the cable. They knew immediately the minute they were through because the cable snapped with a loud noise that made the alien tremble and the two restraints went limp after pulling the cable back in two directions away from the two men. Jack steadied Ianto, who had stumbled into him when they had finally gotten through the cable.

"Did it work?" Ianto asked. Jack looked over his shoulder and grinned.

"Yup!" He said. Ianto gave him a matching grin and turned around. The right hand side of the cable had been dragged down to the ground and the right off to the side. But already the restricting coil around the tail was already looser than it had been before.

"Now we can get the rest off," Jack said. The two men worked to unwind the mass of cables. Once they were loose enough on the base of the tail, Ianto ducked down and worked the slack cable off of the alien's feet. She moaned in relief as he pulled the heavy wire away from her. Jack had to help as the weight was difficult to maneuver for Ianto alone. Once they were finished, she delicately stepped away from the tangle and onto the promenade away from the building.

The alien spent some time moving her head around on her long neck and examining her tail and feet before making an odd chirruping noise that Ianto took to be a sound of contentment. She turned back towards the two men and Ianto almost staggered under the wave of gratitude that emanated from her.

Jack put out a hand to steady him. "Powerful reaction there, isn't it?" He said with a laugh. Their alien friend curled up on the pavement and brought her head down to their level. "You're quite welcome, my lady," he said with a grin. Ianto nodded in agreement. Jack looked at her wistfully for a moment. "I wish I knew what we should call you." She tilted her head to one side as she watched them.

"How does one ask a name through emotions?" Ianto wondered. He stood looking up at the magnificent alien before them. She was beautiful. In the sunlight, her scales reflected the light, giving off a myriad of incandescent hues. In some ways, she was like a dragon, but without the wings. Her body, though large compared to them, was completely in proportion. He could feel she was curious about them, and knew she probably felt his curiosity returned.

Jack thought about Ianto's question for a moment. He had communicated with all types of aliens over the years that he had traveled, but never had really dealt with one who only communicated through emotions. He thought about it for a moment and grinned. "I got it."

"Yeah?" Ianto asked. He turned towards Jack. Jack reached over and cupped his face. "Jack, what are you doing?"

"Trust me," Jack said as he took a step closer. "Ianto, look at me." Ianto looked away from their alien audience and back at Jack. Jack turned his head, nodded to their guest and then looked back. He said Ianto's name and kissed him. Ianto's eyes closed involuntarily and he clutched at Jack's arms as they broke apart. Jack grinned at him, then turned his attention back to their alien friend and said, "Ianto."

Ianto turned his head to look at their friend and saw that her head was cocked to one side as she absorbed what Jack said. Jack shook Ianto lightly. "Introduce me." Ianto laughed. This was ridiculous, but in a way it made as much sense as any other thing they've done in the past. He turned his attention back to Jack and smiled. "Jack," he said, loud enough for her to hear before leaning in for a kiss of his own. Jack's eyes were still open when he pulled back and he grinned at the younger man. "You are having too much fun with this," Ianto informed him.

"Yup!" Jack turned them both so that they were facing the alien together. Ianto stared at her for a long moment, wondering what the best way was to continue. He stepped away from Jack and towards the alien. "Friend," he said as he moved his hand in her direction. Her eyes followed his movement and slowly whirred as they changed focus.

"Maybe we need to repeat it so she gets it this time," Jack said. Ianto sighed and just spoke his name with a sigh of exasperation. The alien blinked and a moment later Ianto felt a wave of amusement coming from her. Ianto chuckled.

"Oh, she got it the first time," he told Jack with a smile. He looked her in the eye that was closest to him and tried to project his own curiosity about her name. A moment later he distinctly smelled the scent of a flower. He looked around, but the only vegetation around them other than a couple of trees was the grass which edged the side of the promenade walkway. "Do you smell that?"

Jack sniffed. "Roses?" He asked. He looked around, but there wasn't a rose in sight. He turned back to their friend. "I think she's sending that."

Ianto nodded slowly. "I think you're right. Hello, Rose." He said with a smile. "Or should we call you Rhosyn?" He felt a feeling of approval at his comment. "Okay, Rhosyn it is." The two men stood for a moment and thought about what to do next. Ianto felt something projected at him next. "I think she's thirsty."


	84. Chapter 84

Jack nodded in agreement. "Water is pretty universal," he said. "Maybe that would be okay for her."

Ianto looked around, but couldn't see what would be a good way to test that. The ocean was nearby, but salty. He put his hands on his hips and looked around. "What we need is a tub of some kind and a way to fill it."

"Or a swimming pool," Jack said. Ianto shook his head. Chlorinated water wouldn't be good.

"Let me see if there's something we can use inside," he said. He walked away from Jack and Rhosyn and entered the building. He was surprised to see people inside. The people were crowded against the back wall, still cowering in fear. "It's safe now, but stay here. She's not going to harm you."

"What is it?" One of the older women asked as she got up from where she had been crouched down behind a flower pot.

"Would you believe me if I told you an alien from another planet?" Ianto asked with a smile. She shook her head. "Well, it is. She doesn't mean anyone harm, and we're going to try to help her get home. But the less people outside, the better." She nodded and took her seat back on the bench nearby. Ianto smiled at the other people who were still nervously watching him. He began moving around, trying to find something that he could fill with water for Rhosyn to drink.

He finally found a large planter with a tarp lining. It was made out of wood and would hopefully be big enough for her. He upended the shrub inside and dumped out the dirt on the floor, ignoring the shout of dismay from one of the workers there. "Sorry!" He apologized. He turned it upside down and knocked out as much of the dirt as he could before tilting it on its side and rolling it towards the door. Jack came over to help him get it through the door and together they rolled it out onto the promenade.

"Must be a garden hose somewhere about," Ianto said. Jack nodded and watched as Ianto walked around the side of the building. A moment later, he came back hauling a long hose in his hands. Jack met him and started pulling as well. Ianto went back to turn the water on, and Jack washed out the dirt, tipping the planter out to rinse it before filling it up again. By that point, Ianto was back and watched as Jack filled up the planter. He turned off the hose and waited for Rhosyn to try it.

She had been watching them curiously while they had moved about, and when Jack was finished with his preparations, she moved closer to the planter. It had looked huge to Ianto in the building, but next to her looked like a thimble. Ianto grinned as she delicately dipped her tongue into the liquid to test it. Obviously, it met with her approval and she lapped it up, sloshing just a little out of the planter as she drank. Jack filled it up two more times until they got the message that she was satisfied.

Jack grinned at the wave of gratitude that she projected towards them. "My pleasure, Rhosyn," he said with a grin. He turned to Ianto. "Let's see if Todd has made any more progress." He tapped his com. "Todd? Any luck?"

Todd had been watching the CCTV footage, fascinated by what was going on. "Hey Jack. Yeah, believe it or not, there's a lot of rift activity at the moment. All localized where you are. The readings are fluctuating, but it's possible that we may get the same type of signature soon."

"Whereabouts do we need to be looking?" Jack asked as he scanned the horizon. He hadn't noticed before because he had been so focused on helping Ianto with Rhosyn, but out on the water, the sky was a crystal clear blue. Yet directly above them, there was cloud cover in which the clouds were moving in a circular pattern. "Huh, nevermind," he said as he looked up. Ianto followed his gaze upwards.

"How'd we miss that?" Ianto asked with a chuckle. Jack just shrugged. "Is that our rift activity?"

"Apparently so," Jack said. "Thanks, Todd. Let us know if the signature gets close enough and then we'll see what we can do. Rob?"

"Yes, boss," Rob's voice came calmly over the coms. "What can I do for you?"

"Can you get the portable scanner out of the UAV?" Jack asked. "We need to be able to track the signature for this rift activity. If we can match it, we can get our friend Rhosyn back home again."

"Rhosyn, huh?" Rob asked with a chuckle. Leave it to Jack to name the alien after a girl. "I'll go get it and bring it over to you." He shut down the com and made his way through the crowd back to the UAV. Climbing inside, he searched around until he found that he was looking for. Grabbing the scanner, he locked up the vehicle and made his way around the crowd and across the promenade to where Jack, Ianto and their newly acquired guest were sitting. Rob made his way cautiously past the alien, who swiveled her head as she watched him approach. He found it a bit unnerving to be caught with that serene gaze. He turned to Jack once he got over to where he was sitting on the overturned planter next to Ianto.

"Here you go," Rob said. He handed the scanner over to Jack who passed it over to Ianto.

"Thank you, Rob." Jack said. "Rob, meet Rhosyn," he gestured with his hand towards the dinosaur creature in front of them. Rob, not knowing what to do, but obviously seeing that she seemed to be relaxed now that they had removed the electrical cables that had been trapping her, waved awkwardly in her direction. He was surprised when one eye closed in a decided wink.

"Oh, I think she likes you," Jack said with a grin. Rob smiled tentatively. Ianto was looking down at the scanner and talking over the coms with Todd in a low voice. After a few minutes, he stood up and started walking around with the scanner.

"I've got a lock on the original signature. Looking to see where we're going to have to be to catch the next one," he explained to the two men. He actually looked at Rhosyn as he spoke as if she could understand him. Rob wondered if she could. She was certainly following his movements with great interest. Ianto started moving in different directions as he tried to triangulate the readings. "The good thing is that according to Todd, they are cycling in a pattern, so it should come around a few times enough for us to be able to pinpoint the right one. "

"Is the location moving?" Jack asked. With Rhosyn's size, they'd have to be careful about getting her through the correct opening at the right time and place.

"Yes, but in a circle," Ianto said. He looked up. "Much like our cloud cover above." The other two men looked upwards, their movements echoed a moment later by Rhosyn. Ianto grinned. "So, if we can get the timing right, we can hopefully find the right opening at the right place, right about…," he was pacing off to the promenade area behind Rhosyn and stopped. "Here."

"Ianto, you're much better at communicating with this lovely lady than I am," Jack said. "See if you can make her understand what it is we're looking to do." Ianto nodded.

"Rhosyn," he called. The alien dragon turned her head to look at him. Rob watched in fascination. Ianto went on to explain what they were going to try and do, at the same time, he projected images of the rift opening and the mental picture of Rhosyn jumping up into the sky. Then he thought of home, and what that meant to him. She stared at him for a long moment and then deliberately moved her head up and down. Rob's jaw dropped open in amazement. It was like they were having a conversation.

"Feel that?" Jack asked in a soft voice. Rob shook his head. "She communicates through emotions. Ianto is a bit more sensitive to it, so he can get images from her. Not exactly telepathy, but close enough for them to speak with one another." He looked at Rob who blinked at the idea.

"So what are you feeling right now?" Rob asked him.

Jack cocked his head to one side. "It's hard to say. Affirmation? Agreement? Either way, she gets what he's telling her right now and understands that it is a pathway back to home for her. And she's willing to trust us that we can get her there." Rob shook his head in wonder.

They had to wait another hour until they came up on another window that coincided with the right signature. Ianto had been monitoring the scanner, and he knew before Todd warned them that they were getting close. He backed up a few steps and after a moment, Rhosyn stood and moved towards him. Jack and Rob walked behind her and eventually circled around to where Ianto was.

"This is it?" Jack asked. The wind suddenly picked up out of nowhere, and green lightning started flickering across the sky. Rhosyn shifted around so that she was crouched low. She was focused on Ianto, who was busy looking at the scanner. Ianto nodded.

"Just about time. Looks like the window will open in a minute or two," he said with a glance up to Jack. Jack nodded. Rhosyn turned her head away from Ianto and looked directly at Jack. He grinned as he felt the wave of gratitude emanating from her.

"My pleasure," he said softly as he looked up at the whirring gems that her eyes reminded him of. "I'm glad we could help you, dear lady. Safe travel back home." He raised his hand and she dipped her head at him before returning her attention to Ianto.

"Almost time," Ianto said to them. Rhosyn watched him intently and after a moment, he looked up, startled. "What?" He stared at her for a long moment before smiling. "You're quite welcome. Safe journey, Rhosyn."

When the time coincided with the right signature, a tone went off in the scanner and it started flashing. "This is it," Ianto said. He looked up at Rhosyn. "Go now!" She looked at him once more, swept a glance around the promenade and leapt upwards. There was a flash, the green lightning sparkled across the sky and a moment later, the wind started to die down. She was gone.

"Whew!" Jack shouted and punched the air in triumph. "We did it!" Ianto smiled and nodded. Rob looked from one man to another.

"Did she get back to the right place, though?" He asked. Ianto nodded.

"I think she did. I saw something as she went through. A vast desert land and others of her own kind," he said with a smile. "It worked."

"Good job, gentlemen," Jack said with the biggest smile Ianto had seen on his face in some time. "We did good here. C'mon, let's go home." He slung an arm around both men and started walking along the promenade back to the UAV.

"What about the people here?" Ianto asked as they approached the crowd. Jack shrugged.

"Not our problem," he said blithely. "Todd? Save what you have on the CCTV and then wipe the cameras. We'll chalk it down to a massive electrical disturbance that caused the outages on the island."

"And what do we tell them about the enormous dinosaur that was there?" Rob asked him as they continued to approach the milling crowd.

"What dinosaur?" Jack asked. "I didn't see one. Did you, Ianto?"

"Nope," Ianto replied. Rob shook his head as they finally reached the edge of the barrier. He pulled away and started talking to the constable there. He told the man that everything was all set and that there was just a massive electrical failure when one of the trees had gotten tangled up in the lines. The man argued with him, but he said that there was no sort of extra terrestrial life there, and if the man looked, he would see so for himself. He pushed through the crowd and reached the UAV just as Jack was starting it up. Climbing into the back compartment, he slammed the door shut and Jack headed back the way they came.

"All in a day's work, gentlemen," Jack said. "I love it when we can help a lady in distress!"


	85. Chapter 85

The three men returned to the Hub and their interrupted work. It was now evening, and the smell of something tantalizing filled the air as they stepped through the cog wheel door. Both Jack and Rob sniffed as they tried to identify the odor.

"Moroccan?" Jack asked. Rob cocked his head to one side before shaking it.

"No, I don't think so. Something else," he said as he tried to identify the scent. Sherry appeared through a doorway and smiled. "But spicy."

"Try Mexican," Sherry suggested as she watched the men salivate. "I thought it was time for something different."

"Sherry, you are a gem," Jack said with a smile. "Always know how to keep me on my toes," he crossed over to her and gave her a hug. She smiled up at him impishly.

"That's my job, Uncle Jack," she said. "I believe it's in the job description." Jack laughed down at her while Ianto murmured to Rob that it was more likely a genetic trait than the job. Rob burst out laughing, causing Jack and Sherry to give him odd looks at his seemingly inexplicable response to her comment. The three men followed her down to the board room where the rest of the staff waited, along with their guest.

Julia looked up at the sound of continuing laughter as the four walked through the door. The men were obviously in high spirits after their adventure. She thought it was good to see them looking positive for a change after the set back they had had. A new attitude would go over well as they worked to get their trap set. She looked down at her watch and realized that they had been going non-stop all day.

Jack was busy telling the rest of the table about their encounter with the alien dragon. Julia smiled at the look on his face as he described the way she had communicated to them and how she had apparently had a soft spot for Ianto.

"Not that I can blame the little lady," Jack said with a grin as he ate his paella. "Ianto is pretty irresistible." Ianto snorted at the comment and shook his head at Jack. Jack chuckled at him. "Hey, you can't deny it!"

"So, not all aliens are out to get us?" Sian asked. Sherry had shown her some of the video from Barry Island and she had marveled that these things seemed to happen all the time around her and she had never known of them, or that Torchwood was around to deal with these things day in and day out.

"No, of course not," Jack said. "Most who come through do so accidentally, and are just as confused as we would be if we suddenly found ourselves in another world at the blink of an eye. Just think if you were suddenly dropped into the middle of China, for instance. You wouldn't know the language; wouldn't look like anyone and would have no idea how you got there or how you would get back. Never mind that the trip is pretty disorienting in the first place." He took another bite of his food before continuing. "That's not to say that there isn't some criminal element that thinks they can take advantage of where they end up. We've had a few of those. But you'd be surprised that most of them only want to get back home, or at least just live a quiet life without trouble."

Sian's eyes were huge as she absorbed what Jack was saying. "So you run an alien relocation program if you can't get them back to where they came from?"

"Yes, if they're willing to abide by the rules and can integrate in with society, why not?" Jack asked. "We keep an eye out to make sure that things are okay, but there's quite a few alien races living here on Earth that people don't know about. Some of them come through the rift, others are on holiday and then you get the occasional student doing a historical project by coming in to study ancient cultures." Both Sian and Sherry looked bemused at the idea that their present would be considered someone else's ancient culture. "Time is relative, ladies." Jack said with a grin.

The meal ended pleasantly enough and the four men went back to work. Jack was anxious that things were going to start coming through the rift soon, and he wanted to be ready. They left the women back in the board room while they went up to the main level and Jack set about clamping the Star of Africa into the brackets he had mounted. Rob assisted him, holding the diamond while he worked on the settings to hold the gem without damaging it. Ianto sat on a nearby stool and watched as they worked. Todd went back to modifying some software he had been working on before Jack asked him to create the control software for the trap, and soon he was lost in amongst the equations and strings of code, oblivious to everything else that was going on around him.

"There, I think that will hold," Jack said as he nodded to Rob to remove his hands. Rob did so, and the two men looked at the large gem carefully. "The key is to make sure that there is enough support without it causing any friction. I wasn't worried about the smaller gems, because individually they couldn't do much damage. But with this baby, if there's enough friction, it can shunt off the power and cause some real trouble," Jack explained as he looked at the diamond from every possible angle.

"Now what?" Rob asked. Jack looked up at him and smiled.

"Now we activate it," he said with a devilish grin. Ianto got a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. This is where it could all go tits up on them. He practically had to sit on his hands to stop Jack from reaching for the Helvar generator. Rob moved back cautiously as Jack picked up the innocuous looking rod and stared at the buttons on it for a long moment. He very carefully made a change on it and nodded to himself. Ianto twitched and bit his tongue. Now was not the time to doubt that this was going to work. Jack glanced up and met his eyes before looking at Rob. This time Julia hovered closer to her medical kit. Her assumption was that if the gem was that big, the damage would be greater. Jack gave her a jaunty wink, knowing that if he did miscalculate, then her medical kit wasn't going to do a damn bit of good and they'd just have to wait for him to regenerate fully. He took a deep breath and held it as he aligned the rod's end with a side of the Star of Africa.

"Here goes nothing," he said, letting out the breath. Very gently, he pressed the button on the back with the tip of his finger. Light shot out of the end of the tube and was absorbed by the gem. Ianto watched with fascination as the light rippled inside the gem. It started as a point in the middle and slowly swirled outwards to the edges. Jack watched carefully and at the three quarters absorption mark, he pressed the button to shut off the generator. The glow rippled out to the edges until it filled the Star completely. "There," Jack said with satisfaction. "Nothing to it."

"Will it stay that way once we're done?" Julia asked, utterly fascinated by the glowing diamond.

"No idea," Jack said. "If so, we'll tell them it's an enhancement when we give it back to them," Jack said blithely. Ianto shook his head ruefully at his comment.

"All right, now what?" Rob asked. Jack looked thoughtfully at the board for a long moment before carefully picking it up. Testing the weight, he nodded to Rob as he began to carefully tilt the circuit board onto its side. Rob held out his hands just under the Star of Africa, ready to catch it if it came loose from the fittings. Thankfully, the brackets held as Jack held the board horizontally. He then shook the board to make sure that vibrations wouldn't dislodge the gem. It remained secure in its fastenings.

"Good, they're holding," Jack said as he carefully laid it back down again. "Now we mount it and wire it to the nosecone. That is going to be the hard part."

"Wasn't this the hard part?" Rob asked incredulously. Jack shook his head with a grin. "Oh."

"You know he just likes to keep you guessing," Ianto said quietly from where his chin rested on the back of the chair he was sitting on. "Makes him look all the more mysterious and all knowing."

"No more comments from the peanut gallery," Jack said, shooting Ianto a look. "For all you know, this was the easy part." Ianto just smiled.

"Okay, what now?" He asked as Jack sat back and stretched. Rob got up and moved over to the part of the ship that had been keeping them occupied for so many hours. Walking around it, he considered Jack's comment and wondered how they were going to mount the heavy board onto the smooth surface of the Kralyro ship. Jack stood up and walked over to where he stood.

"So, what do you think?" He asked the ex-SAS officer. Rob glanced at him and shrugged. Jack smiled and knelt down on the side of the ship and gestured for Rob to move closer. "It looks smooth, doesn't it? No real place to mount something of that size. No way to wire it up, right?" He looked up and waited for Rob to nod. Behind them, Ianto had just moved his chair around so that he could keep a watchful eye on them. "Seems impossible, doesn't it?"

"Pretty much," Rob admitted. "So how are we going to do it?" He asked. Jack grinned up at him. "You do have a plan, right?"

"Absolutely," Jack confirmed. "A long time ago, back in my much younger days, I met a man who went by the name of Harulk. He wasn't from around these parts, but then, neither was I. Anyhow, my good friend Harulk was an Andranae mechanic. Not very special in itself as an occupation, unless you knew who the Andrana were."

"And who were they?" Ianto asked from where he was seated, knowing that the only way they were going to get through this was if someone prompted Jack during his story. Jack gave him an appreciative glance before turning back to Rob.

"They were also known as the Keepers of Ad'drae, one of the more prominent races in regards to interstellar travel and genobilecular mechanics," Jack said. From the blank looks the others gave him, it was obvious that they didn't get the significance of that. He chuckled to himself, knowing that there was no way they could know what that meant. At least until he told them. "Anyhow, they were the grandfathers in essence of the technology that led to the rise of the Aeranean drive systems. Kind of like a model T to a high performance race car of today. That's oversimplifying it a bit, but the Andranae are what I would call intuitive mechanics. They have only to look at something to figure it out. My friend Harulk was one of the chief engineers who had salvaged technology from the Aeranean shipyards and then passed that information to other races such as the Kralyro, who could then build their own, though theirs were much safer than their predecessors."

"And what is genobilecular mechanics?" Julia asked from where she had drifted over as Jack had spoken.

"It's not something I could tell you about in great detail," Jack admitted. "Never really liked those topics in school. But in essence, it was the forerunner of the organic technology that the Aeraneans used to create their star drives. The Andranae, perhaps wisely, stopped before going that far with their research. Which is probably they are still around, and the Aeraneans weren't." Jack stared off into space for a moment before shaking himself. "Anyhow, after the cataclysm, the Andranae were the only ones capable of sorting out the mess of the shipyards and containing it. My buddy Harulk was from a clan that dealt specifically with the Kralyro, so in the process, he taught me a few tricks of the trade, in case I ever worked on one of their ships. That never happened, but I'm pretty sure I remember some of the things he told me about the nosecones."

"You're pretty sure," Ianto said slowly. "Is that anything like being a little bit pregnant?" Julia turned and gave him an odd look and Jack burst into laughter, more at Julia's expression than Ianto's quip.

"No, nothing like it," Jack said with a grin once he had calmed down. "What's with you, Ianto? You are full of skepticism today."

"It's the nature of what you're doing," Ianto commented. "As in, attaching a priceless heirloom to the front of a ship in order to drag some madman from the future to us without knowing what we're going to do with him once we have him here. Assuming it is a him and not a swarm of nasty little beasties with sharp teeth and claws."

"And if it is, I'll be the first one they see," Jack said. "I can handle it either way." Ianto sighed, clearly not happy with his comment. The idea of Jack being ripped into pieces in front of him was not an experience he wanted to witness anytime soon. They stared at one another for a moment before Jack shifted his gaze back to Rob. "Anyhow, Harulk was a treasure trove of information. Most of it useless, but then, he was cute, so I tolerated him. Well, cute as any alien with fifteen eye stalks surrounded his head can be," Jack amended. "Made naked hide and seek a real challenge." Ianto snorted from somewhere behind him and he grinned as he turned around to look at the ship. "So, as I was saying, some of those tricks were that there are hidden biometric controls on the surface of the Kralyro ships. They were mainly used for dockyard work, but in a pinch could be accessed while in space. He didn't recommend it, but then, he was a bit agoraphobic.

"Luckily for us, we don't have to be in space to do what we need to do," he said with a smile. "So, if I can just concentrate for a moment, I should be able to figure out the sequence I need." He stared at the smooth outer surface of the nosecone for a long moment. The others watched curiously as he extended his left hand towards the gleaming metal. He let his fingers lightly trace a pattern on the hull. He repeated it twice more before they heard a grating sound and a slit appeared in the metal. Rob leaned closer, eager to see what it would reveal.

As the gap grew larger, Jack shifted back on his heels, clearly looking very satisfied with himself. The metal panel retracted into the hull, revealing a complex set of circuitry which had blinking lights. There was a box which had a series of ports in it which Rob assumed could be used for connecting calibration equipment or something to it.

"That," Jack pointed to the square box in the middle of the open panel, "is how we're going to connect our power source."

"Was the hard part remembering how to open the access hatch?" Rob asked. Jack shook his head. "So the hard part is yet to come?"

"Yup," Jack said as he stood back up. "The hard part is mounting the board in such a way that it connects without over driving the unit and making it explode."


	86. Chapter 86

"Oh boy," Ianto said softly as he watched Jack move back over to where the board with the diamond lay. He picked it up and hefted it before bringing it over to the nosecone of the ship. Carefully tilting it again on its side, he lined it up with the access panel. After staring at it for a long moment, he swiveled the board in his grip and looked at it from another angle. He asked Ianto for a tape measure, and while holding the board in position, had Ianto take precise measurements from each corner of the board. Once Ianto had done so, Jack brought the board back to table and placed it on its side. "Rob, do me a favor and hold this in position."

Rob stepped up and held the board while Jack took the tape from Ianto. "Measuring tapes never lie, right?" He said with a grin. Ianto only rolled his eyes. "Okay, boys, enough of the levity," he commanded. Rob looked mystified but Ianto just looked resigned. He watched as Jack picked up a grease pencil and measured out the distance from the edge of the board again. Ianto supplied the numbers from memory and soon Jack had a white line sketched around the back side of the board.

"Good," Jack said with a nod. "Now I work on the mounting bracket." He picked up some metal that he had set aside earlier and a smaller circuit board. Working quickly, he attached wires to the larger board and soldered them through the smaller board before threading them across in what seemed to be a nonsensical fashion. Rob watched with interest as he worked. It was obvious that he knew what he was doing. It wasn't often that they saw the technical side of Jack. More likely he was happy to sit back and let the others do the work. Rob wondered if it was because his skills were so far beyond theirs that he didn't want to inadvertently change the present by introducing something that hadn't been invented yet. He thought about that for a bit as Jack worked steadily to build out the mount. It was taking shape quickly and the frame of metal strips that was going to secure the boards to the ship started to look like something other than a mess of wires and twisted metal.

Sherry came by with a coffee refill, for which they were all extremely grateful. It was now late into the evening, and Julia noticed that both Rob and Todd were looking very tired, though Jack and Ianto seemed to be fine. Ianto had moved off to the computer console and was doing something with it. She wasn't sure what, but it looked like a probability matrix he was running. He would change a parameter and run it, then write a note on another open document before doing it again. She assumed he was running scenarios through the program on what their chances of success were. She hoped that this would all work out, but knew that there were too many variables involved for a computer to properly model.

"I think it's time for me to go home," she said as she stood up, feeling her back ache from sitting for so long. "I take it there's nothing I can do to assist you on what you're doing."

Jack glanced up before going back to what he was doing. "No, go home, Julia. Take everyone with you. I'm going to be up for a bit, so I'll keep an eye on everything here." He watched as Rob stifled a yawn. "You, too, Rob. Nothing's going to happen overnight. Get some rest and come back tomorrow. Sleep in, if you want. I think you all deserve a break."

Ianto pushed back from his seat and stretched. He had a long list of information in his document and he stared at it for a moment before making one last change in the program and running it again. Julia watched him for a bit before turning towards Jack again.

"And when do you allow yourself a break?" She asked in a voice pitched low enough so that the others wouldn't hear her. "You know that as long as you keep on going, he will," she said with a nod in Ianto's direction. Jack followed her movement and nodded. "You might not need that much sleep, but he does. For his sake if nothing else, don't go all night."

"I won't," Jack promised. He smiled up at her. It was times like these when he realized how much he appreciated Julia, and how she kept them all on an even keel. It made them more effective as a team, and he was glad he had convinced her to join them. "I promise." She nodded and accepted his word before gathering the rest of the team together. Sherry had already gone to bed for the night, wanting to stay near Sian, so it was just Julia and the boys as she ushered them out of the Hub for a second night in a row. Ianto watched them leave with a look of amusement on his face as he placed one of his specially brewed coffees for Jack on the table before taking a seat next to his partner.

"She really is a mother hen, isn't she?" He mused as he took a sip from his mug. Jack chuckled, but didn't respond as he manipulated the lattice frame structure he was building. Ianto watched him as he worked, his fingers weaving and intricate pattern with the wires and metal braces that he had installed. "That's quite beautiful, you know," he commented.

"Well, the Andranae had this thing for form and function," Jack said absently as he worked. In retrospect, he could see what Ianto meant as the latticework grew out of the circuit board and extended outwards. He had worked enough of the structure so that it was now balancing on its own without the need for support. That bode well for when he eventually mounted it to the side of the nosecone. It would then hold up on its own and work properly.

When he didn't say anything more, Ianto continued. "The rift is very quiet this evening. Makes me wonder if it's all about to explode on us tomorrow." Jack nodded as he continued to work, but didn't say anything. "Do you think it will?" Jack finally looked up.

"My gut is telling me we're running out of time, so I think you're right," he finally commented. He tied off the end he was working on and reached for the mug that Ianto had left for him. Taking a long sip, he surveyed his handiwork. "It's coming along, so it stands to reason that it's all going to blow up right when we get this finished."

"Jack, can we do this?" Ianto asked in a quiet voice, making Jack glance back up at him again. "Is this going to work?"

"It has to, Ianto. We don't have much choice, so this has to be able to work," Jack said. It wasn't often that he would admit to the concerns he felt, but if he could do it to anyone, it would be to the man sitting by his side. "We're out of options, so this has to be the answer."

"And how do we convince this assassin to stop trying to kill Sian?" Ianto asked. Jack contemplated his question for a long moment. That was the part that he was worried about. He needed to know why someone was trying to do this, and hopefully the assassin would be more than a hired hand and could supply some answers. If not, at the very least, they would have removed the assassin from where he, she or it was, and that in itself would prevent the owner of the contract from getting what they wanted. What he didn't tell Ianto was that he was also hoping to reverse the process if the Kralyro ship held up and possibly send someone through to the other side to reason with whomever was responsible. The one thing he didn't know was how long it would work. He was working with some primitive electronics on their side and it was quite possible that they could burn out the board. If that happened while one of them was in the future, then there was no chance of that person getting back. He stifled a sigh, knowing that he was going to be the one to go into the future. He was the only possible choice, but he knew that Ianto wouldn't be too happy if he had any idea of what Jack planned.

"We need to find out why they're doing this first," Jack finally said when he realized that Ianto was patiently awaiting an answer. "Once we have some information, we can work to stop them." Ianto nodded. He knew Jack was holding something back, but he knew eventually he would get it out of him. He had a lot of practice doing that, after all. He watched as Jack stared at the board for a long moment. "Jack," he said softly.

"Yeah?" Jack put down his now empty coffee mug, but didn't look at Ianto. He was afraid that if he did, Ianto would figure out what he was thinking. He always had a way of intuiting what Jack was thinking, and right now, that was a drawback for his plans.

"Shouldn't we get another board ready?" Ianto asked. Jack looked up, startled. "And shouldn't you teach Rob or myself on what we'd need to do to transfer the Star in case we need to?" Jack blinked. He wasn't sure where Ianto was heading with his questions, and it made him uncomfortable.

"I don't think we have another suitable board," Jack said. "And if it burns out as we're using it, we're not going to be able to transfer the Star to another board easily."

"I wasn't thinking of that," Ianto said. He leaned forward and captured one of Jack's hands in his own. "I was thinking of a backup in case we need it. Either to send this person back if we want to, or to retrieve whomever it is who goes over to the other side." Ianto smiled grimly as Jack looked up at him, startled. "I know you want to be the one to do it, but I also want to know that there will be a way to bring you back. I don't want you stuck on the other side if we can help it."

"Damn you," Jack smiled wryly. "How do you do that?" As Ianto continued to stare at him, he continued his thought. "How do you manage to get into my head when I've barely formed the thought myself?"

"I know you all too well, Jack," Ianto said with a knowing smile. "If I haven't managed to figure out how you think, no one can. And I know how you think. You want to stop this person, whomever they are, from killing people. Pulling the assassin to us is one way to do it, but there's still a chance that this person is deranged enough to hire another person to open another swarm portal." Jack nodded in agreement to his assessment. "So, it stands to reason that someone might have to get through to the other side and stop them from doing that. And, knowing you as I do, I know you wouldn't want to risk any of the team." Ianto forestalled Jack's comment by placing a finger against his open lips. "I know you are the one with the most experience. You were a Time Agent, after all. So it does make perfect sense. That doesn't mean I have to like it, or the idea of you getting stuck on the other side.

"So," Ianto continued as he removed his finger after stroking Jack's lips. "Tell me what I'd need to do to transfer this to another board, and what we'd need to do to get it prepped properly. We need to have contingencies in place, so we can respond accordingly. And I can't very well let you go if I don't know that there is a way to get you back, can I?" His voice broke slightly on the last words, though he tried to say them in a light tone. Jack closed his eyes for a long moment, knowing that Ianto was scared he would go through and not come back, leaving him alone.


	87. Chapter 87

"All right," he finally acknowledged with a sigh. "Let me show you. I'm not sure if you will be able to do it, but you're right. We do need some backups. With luck, we won't need to use them, but if it makes you feel better to know we have them, then let's do it." He stood up and tugged on Ianto's hand to pull him up as well. He then wrapped his arms around his partner and hugged him tightly. Ianto held onto him briefly, neither saying a word as they pressed themselves close to one another. They broke apart and Jack turned towards the cart that Ianto had brought up, looking for another alternate board to prep.

"Here," he said, pulling a large box-like device off of the cart. "This will probably be a good choice. Let's break the board out and I'll show you what I did." Together they moved over to the table where Rob had been working and pulled the device apart, carefully removing it from the casing. Jack explained what he was doing as he went, knowing that Ianto would absorb anything he told him and remember it. It took them some time to remove the board, and he glanced at his watch, knowing the time was getting late. He also knew that he had made a promise to Julia, but he knew that Ianto wouldn't be comfortable enough to rest without knowing that there was a backup in case they needed it. He worked quickly, his fingers sure as they moved about the circuit board testing connections and wires. He had Ianto retrieve some spare wiring from the other table and together they worked on modifying the board.

Ianto kept close to Jack, feeling that time was slipping through their fingers and soon they wouldn't have the luxury to take their time. He focused on what Jack was telling him in an effort not to think about all the things that could go wrong, nor all the possible problems that could arise with the dawn of the next day. Once or twice the rift monitor bleeped and the two men stiffened in response. Both times Ianto went over to check and see what the alarm was, and found that it was just the usual flotsam that drifted through. He was able to get visuals on the items and Jack decided it wasn't worth going out to retrieve them. He made a note to ask Rob to look into them in the morning, and returned to where Jack was working.

Another hour passed as Jack made new brackets to hold the Star of Africa. Ianto held the brackets while Jack soldered them onto the board and secured them in place. The two of them together made the work easier and soon Jack was adding the crisscrossing wires that would shunt the power from the gem to the board and out to the ship. They worked feverishly, aware of the passing time and the lateness of the hour. After an intense period of working, Jack finally stood up to ease his aching back and stretched.

"That's as much as we can do for now," he said. Ianto moved behind him and started rubbing his shoulders. "Oh yeah, don't stop," he said with a gasp as Ianto worked on a particularly hard knot under his shoulder blade. "This work stuff is for the birds."

"That's why you need to learn to delegate," Ianto murmured as he concentrated on relieving the stiff muscles in Jack's back. "Good Lord, you do make a mess of yourself, don't you?" Jack chuckled ruefully in response.

"You are a bit of a slave driver," Jack muttered as he leaned against the table. "Making me hunch over a desk for days on end, when I should really be putting my feet up and watching you do all the work." He grunted as Ianto moved to another part of his back and started working on that area. "Oh, there." Ianto smiled and said nothing as his fingers danced over Jack's back. Eventually, he worked through all the stiff muscles and watched with amusement as Jack slowly became putty in his hands. He could see that Jack's eyes were closed and he let this fingers creep around to Jack's chest as he leaned in for a hug. He rested his cheek against Jack's back and closed his eyes, content for the moment to just stand there and hold his lover in his arms. He felt Jack's fingers entwine with his own and he sighed softly.

"It's late," Jack said. "I think we both need a bit of shut eye." He heard a soft murmur of agreement from Ianto, but the other man didn't move. Jack turned his head and could only see a bit of dark hair resting against his shoulder. He looked over to their reflection in the glass wall off to the side and smiled. Ianto looked exhausted, but hadn't uttered a word of complaint as they worked late into the night. He smiled and hugged Ianto's arms close before twitching his shoulders to stir the other man. "Bedtime."

"Can I just stay like this? I'm comfortable," Ianto murmured. Jack chuckled. He was pretty much asleep on his feet.

"No, we need to get horizontal," Jack said with a low laugh. Ianto only snorted softly.

"Since when was that a prerequisite for us?" Ianto muttered. Jack laughed again and turned in his arms. Ianto protested the change until Jack reached up and stroked his cheek. He leaned into the caress and sighed again.

"Let's go downstairs to a proper bed," Jack said softly. Ianto barely opened one eye to look at him before closing it again. "Think you can get that far?"

"Nope," Ianto said. Jack grinned. "How about the sofa?" Jack turned and looked speculatively at the dilapidated piece of furniture.

"Surely we can do better than that," Jack responded. Ianto shook his head.

"I don't think I can manage any further than that," he said. Jack gave in, seeing the look of utter exhaustion on the other man's face. He led him over to the sofa and together they sat down next to one another. Ianto toed his shoes off and reached down to loosen his belt. Jack helped him before leaning over to untie his boots and kick them off.

"Come here," he said. He pulled Ianto into his arms and turned them both so that they were lying lengthwise on the sofa. "Hmmm, it's actually bigger than my bed," he said with a note of surprise as Ianto pillowed his head in the hollow of Jack's shoulder. Ianto only muttered something unintelligible, already mostly asleep.

Jack rested his head against the arm of the sofa and smiled down at the younger man. He forgot that the others couldn't keep up with his long nocturnal hours. Of course, he hadn't intended on modifying another board, so it was Ianto's fault they had stayed up as late as they had. Not that that excuse would fly with Julia, he thought ruefully. He reached out and stroked his fingers through Ianto's hair as he watched him sleep. Julia was just going to have to deal with it, he thought with a worn chuckle. He felt himself drifting, now that he was lying down and comfortable. Closing his eyes, he just concentrated on the sound of Ianto breathing. Eventually his hand came to rest on Ianto's neck and he tilted his own head so that it was leaning against Ianto's as he drifted off to sleep.

*

It was a sign of their exhaustion that the door alarms didn't even wake them. Todd was the first to arrive, and he paused as he realized that the two men were curled up on the sofa together, completely dead to the world. He snickered as he saw that Jack was snoring slightly before looking curiously at the way he held Ianto in his arms. A wistful look crossed the young man's face. He didn't have anyone to hold at night, and he envied the two men. They had something special, despite everything the rift threw at them and the strange circumstances in which they found themselves. He really envied them that closeness.

Sighing softly, he disabled the alarms and left the cog wheel door open so that when the others arrived it wouldn't wake them. Passing Ianto's console, he saw the hand written note about having Rob check out the rift alarms, so Todd took it upon himself to give Rob a ring and have him check out the two instances on his way into work. Rob agreed as well as said he'd bring in breakfast. Todd went to work on one of his many in progress projects while he waited for the rest of the others to arrive.

Rob showed up with the two rift items in a bag, along with an assortment of bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. He chuckled as he saw the two men sprawled on the sofa.

"They didn't get far, did they?" He noted as he put the bag on the counter and Todd peered inside to pick a bagel.

"They were up most of the night," Sherry said from behind them as she came through the door. The two men knew better than to try to make coffee, so they moved out of the way to let her do the job for them. "I was up earlier and checked the logs. They were working until about half past four on stuff."

Rob turned and looked into the playroom. He could see the discarded mess of another external housing for a component on his table, along with the extracted board that looked like it had been prepped as a backup. He nodded in approval before turning to smile as Sherry started making them espresso shots. A wise move, since they were all a little short on sleep.

Julia arrived shortly after while they were sitting around having breakfast and talking in low voices so that they wouldn't wake the two men who were still asleep. She stopped short as she turned towards her desk and saw Jack and Ianto curled up on the sofa together. Her face softened as she watched them. Rob came up behind her and handed her a cup of coffee.

"Sleeping the sleep of the just, I think," he commented as she took a sip from the coffee mug.

"And how do you figure that?" She asked with a tiny smile. Rob gestured over to the work area and she noticed that it was obvious they had worked through the night to build a back up board.

"Ianto was concerned that Jack might try to go through to the other side and get stuck there," Rob said in a low voice. He had been watching Ianto's probability runs a little closer than the other man had realized, and had figured out where he was going with his models. "Obviously he was able to convince Jack that they needed a back up."

"Do you really think any of this will work?" Julia asked soberly. Rob glanced away from the work area to her and nodded.

"Yeah, I think it will. Everything seems to be coming together," Rob said. He moved over to where they had left the backup board and he examined it closely. "I think we'll definitely bring something through. As to where it goes from there, well, that's another question. I think Jack has a plan, but there are always variables one can't predict. And the variables for us are what we pull through, and even if it is something we can reason with, whether it will do any good." Rob sighed and rubbed his face. "I do know that I will do everything in my power to make sure Sian remains unharmed."

"As will we all," Julia said softly. She turned and walked back over to where Todd and Sherry were still seated on their stools. "I need some food." She sat down with the rest of the team and they quietly enjoyed their breakfast. It was while they were talking quietly about looking forward to a time when this was all over, that they heard the scrape of a foot on the pavement and turned as a group.

Jack had extricated himself from Ianto's embrace without waking the other man and had pulled on his boots before heading over to where the team sat. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled at them. The smile turned into a grin as Sherry handed an oversized steaming mug to him.

"Sherry, you're a lifesaver!" He declared after taking a long sip. "I need this."

"You were supposed to take it easy last night," Julia said reprovingly as she observed his rumpled state. Jack glanced at her and then away, looking at the selection of bagels on the table between them.

"Don't blame me, blame him," he said as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of Ianto on the sofa. "I would have stopped right after you left, but he wouldn't let me." Julia just made a non-committal noise as she drank her coffee. "Still, it had to be done, I suppose," he finished. At her raised eyebrow, he sat down on the stool that Todd had just abandoned and reached for a poppy seed bagel. "It makes sense to have a back up. I have no idea what the power of the gem is going to do to the board it's on now. It could work fine, or it could burn it out right after it powers up. Hopefully it will be the former. But it's best to be prepared." Jack put down his mug and picked up a knife to spread the cream cheese onto his bagel. "And if it makes Ianto feel more comfortable about all this, all the better."

"Mmmm," she acknowledged with a tiny nod as she watched him wolf down his breakfast. "Promise me something, Jack."

"What's that?" He asked, mumbling around the bagel in his mouth. Julia resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his uncouth response. No wonder why Ianto always seemed to despair where Jack was concerned.

"If tonight is quiet, you'll get out of here early and take the night off?" She requested. He gave her a tired smile.

"I don't think we're going to have that luxury," he said in a quiet voice. She frowned, but knew better than to question his instincts.


	88. Chapter 88

A moment later, the alarm went off and Todd turned towards the monitor. Ianto was sitting up and staring about dazedly for a moment before he gathered his wits about him. He watched as Rob headed over to Todd's console to see what the problem was.

"Looks like Weevils," Todd said in a low voice before noticing that it didn't matter, since the alarm had woken Ianto up anyhow. "Over Penarth way."

"I'll get them," Rob said. "Want to come with me?" Todd nodded and the two men made their way past the sofa as they got their gear to go retrieve the Weevils. "We've got them," Rob said to Jack as he raised a hand to forestall Jack getting up to join them. "I'll radio if it's more than we can handle." Jack nodded reluctantly. Two small alarms the night before and one first thing this morning. He had a feeling that things were going to pick up more, and that it was a sign of another attempt on Sian's life. He sighed heavily and watched as Ianto ran a hand through his hair as he stood up and took over the monitoring of the alarm while Todd and Rob grabbed supplies and headed out to where the UAV was parked.

Sherry brought over a large mug of coffee and Ianto gratefully accepted the offering. He smiled at her and gave her a murmured good morning before she offered to get him a bagel to eat. Nodding absently as he observed what was going on in regards to the rift, he sat down in Todd's chair and put his earpiece in so he could communicate with the boys. Jack watched with a smile. It was like watching a dance troop as they moved about, each filling the need without asking and doing their work efficiently and quietly. Julia had moved off to stand behind Ianto. Jack caught the low murmur of voices as she checked on how he was doing and whether he had had enough sleep.

Sherry came over to get Ianto a bagel and Jack stood up, figuring he might as well go back to work before anything else decided to come through the rift. He was feeling antsy, and had a gut feeling that this was all going to come to a head in the next few hours. He wanted to be as prepared as possible before that happened, so he refilled his coffee mug from the carafe that Sherry had put out and went back to the table. He picked up the board they had worked on the night before, and examined it carefully. He wanted to make sure that they had made no mistakes, since this had to be a reliable backup. Or at least as reliable as it could be, given the technology they had to work with.

"Rob, your little friends are on the move," Ianto said in a low gravelly morning voice. He took another sip of his coffee and tried to clear his throat. He was feeling more awake as the caffeine slipped into his system. He smiled as Sherry left him a bagel on the desk. Ignoring it for the moment, he put down his mug and tapped on the keys to see if he could give the men more information. "Looks like they're headed west."

"Got it here," Todd replied in his earpiece. "I'm tracking movement for what looks like two or three Weevils. I think that area is a local dump or something, judging by the information I'm seeing on the screen, so they're probably scavaging."

"Be careful with that," Ianto told him. "In the past, that's been a sign of nesting."

"Nesting?" Rob replied with a note of surprise in his voice. "Rooting through the garbage?" He was driving and grateful for the light traffic this early in the morning. With luck they should be able to make good time and get there before anyone noticed the odd creatures wandering about the garbage.

"Uh huh," Ianto said as he took another sip of his coffee. "One time Owen and I came upon a group in an abandoned warehouse. They took all the junk that had been left behind to make a nest out of it. About four or five in a family group. I remember it clearly because Owen had been trying to study whatever family dynamics they had and we found out in a big way when they objected to our visit." He looked over his shoulder and saw Julia was listening in on the conversation with interest. "To say they were a bit protective of the young ones was a bit of an understatement. We ended up having to do a runner and to wait until a couple of the adults had gone foraging before we could relocate them to someplace safe."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," Rob noted as he continued to drive. "Are you awake now?" He chuckled as Ianto murmured an assent. "You two looked so comfy cuddled up on the sofa." He grinned at Ianto's snorting response. "But I see you made some nice progress."

"Yeah, I asked him to teach me how to build one of these things, since I have a feeling we're going to need it," Ianto said. He didn't say why he thought they were going to need it, but Rob was a smart guy and he found that they often thought alike. He didn't have to say what was on his mind and Rob didn't ask. He watched the progress of the UAV on the screen. "You made good time, I see."

"Yeah, just pulling up now. Looks quiet, so at least we don't have to deal with civilians," Rob said. Ianto listened to him give some instructions to Todd about getting restraints out of the back and he could hear Todd moving about in the cavernous UAV. Since he didn't need to direct them at the moment, he muted his com and took the opportunity to eat.

"We seem to be having a lot of Weevils being active," Julia noted. Ianto just nodded. Something was making them move, and he knew that they were sensitive to changes in the rift. He glanced over at Jack, watching as Jack's long fingers manipulated the board they had been working on as he examined it. Ianto concluded that was probably a good idea, since they had been tired towards the end there and might have made some mistakes that would have left them with a flaw. When he saw that Jack put it down with a nod, he sighed in relief.

Julia had been watching him. "Worried?"

"Yes," Ianto said. "We need every advantage we can get right now. I have a feeling we're going to be needing them." He turned back to the displays and watched as Rob and Todd entered the junkyard and split up. He turned his com back on. "You're tracking where they are, right?"

"Yeah, we got them," Rob said. Ianto watched as the two men circled about their first target. They were able to trap the first Weevil easily enough and left it dazed and restrained while they went for the others. The two men worked efficiently, having done this sort of thing before, but not with a family of Weevils. Rob thought that the early hour actually helped them out, since the Weevils tended to be nocturnal and were sluggish now that it was daylight. They secured the second Weevil and went to where they found a cluster of lifeforms. Perhaps these were the children, Rob mused. He had never seen a juvenile Weevil before, but he knew he would need to be cautious if there was another adult about. There would have to be one on guard, and he nodded to Todd as the younger man came around the corner of the building they had been casing.

Using hand signals, Rob indicated that he was going to go through the open door. Todd nodded and readied both his spray and the restraint he had in his hand. There was no telling what was on the other side and he wanted to be ready.

Ianto listened intently as he heard Rob enter the building. He watched for movement of their targets, but they seemed to be staying in place. He wanted this to go smoothly, and had to bite his lip to avoid saying something that he knew Rob and Todd didn't need to hear. They had been through this before, and knew what they were doing. Todd followed Rob through the doorway and the two men moved through the debris of abandoned junk as they made their way further into the building. Soon they were outside the area where the three other Weevils were and the two men prepped as best they could before heading through.

Rob blinked. Sunlight was filtering through cracks in the outside wall of the corrugated metal siding, allowing them to see clearly. In front of them in a pile of abandoned clothing, blankets and other bits of fabric were three tiny Weevils.

"All three are juveniles," Rob reported. In fact, they were infants. He stood and stared at them while Todd continued to scan the area, making sure there wasn't another one hiding and ready to pounce on them. The fact that they had gotten both adults felt unusual, but it was perhaps just good timing that had helped them out. Rob looked around for something to carry the babies in, and found a large box in the next room. He filled the bottom with some soft cloth before donning gloves and transferring the children to the box. They didn't even open their eyes as he did so, and Rob knew that Todd had his back as he worked.

Once he was finished, he hefted the box in his arms and carried it out of the building and over to the back of the UAV. Todd opened the doors and he stored the box securely inside, being careful to make sure that it wouldn't slide around while they were driving. They closed the doors and went back to retrieve the parents. It was while they were working that another alarm went off back at the Hub. Todd gave Rob a worried glance as they lugged the first adult back to the UAV. Keying off his com for privacy, Todd spoke to Rob.

"It's really happening again, isn't it?" He asked in a worried tone as he helped shove the Weevil into the back of the UAV. Rob sighed and nodded. They all felt that sent of urgency that they were running out of time. Counting the two late night alerts with flotsam and this one they were attending to now with the Weevils, it definitely wasn't a good sign that things were going to stay quiet.

"You need us?" Rob asked Ianto. Ianto was already scanning the incoming predictor report and cross referencing it against the maps and the CCTV footage for that area.

"No, come on back and unload. I might have to go out with Julia on this one," Ianto told him. "It looks like it is non-sentient, whatever it is, so that's something." Todd let out a gusty sigh as he listened in on the conversation.

"What about Jack?" Rob asked. They were just getting into the UAV and he started it up and headed back towards their base.

"We need to keep him here, just in case," Ianto said in a low voice. "It's okay, we can handle it. But once you get back here, he'll have support so he isn't on his own." Rob could hear Julia saying something in the background and he signed off, leaving Ianto to handle whatever it was that the rift had spat out this time.

At the Hub Ianto and Julia quickly prepared themselves to check out whatever it was that had come through the rift now. Jack was standing with his arms crossed, watching them as they got ready. He was feeling antsy, and knew that if their timing was bad, the next swarm could happen while he was on his own with only Sherry for support. He didn't like that idea at all, but knew that he wasn't going to have much choice on the timing of the opening. Once Ianto and Julia left, he walked around the now too quiet playroom, checking that things were ready for them when they needed to use them. He debated asking Sherry to bring Sian up and putting her in the cage. While it seemed wisest for her own protection, he also knew that it would be pretty traumatic for her to be trapped inside of it for hours on end. He sighed and leaned on the railing that surrounded the water tower. He felt like he needed to be doing something, but there wasn't anything to do. Everything was as ready as it was going to be when the swarm happened. So he could only hope that his team made it back in time to assist on whatever was going to happen.

Julia was driving to the latest rift anomaly, wondering if there was a plan in throwing all these things through the rift at them. The team was now scattered in three separate locations at the moment, and that made her nervous. It felt almost deliberate to her. She hazarded a quick glance at Ianto who was busy reading the scanner in his hands. "How are we doing?" She asked.

"Almost there. It seems like a few items were dropped, in a wide pattern of about a half kilometer. Hopefully they're large enough to spot easily, or we could be running hither and yon trying to find them," he said. She stifled a sigh and just kept on driving as he gave her directions. Eventually, they came upon a cricket pitch. Julia sent a silent thanks to whomever was watching over them that the alarm had happened early enough that the pitch was still empty of players. She pulled into the car park and stopped the engine.

"All right, how small are these things that we're looking for?" She asked as she turned towards her team mate. He pointed the scanner out the window and moved it in a n arc.

"We start over there," he said with a nod of his chin. They got out and he led them towards the first item, which glinted in the sunlight. It looked like a sheet of glass, and they cautiously approached it. "Definitely inorganic, which is something." They had reached the item and he squatted down to examine it without touching.

"It looks like a bit of a windshield, doesn't it?" Julia observed. She had reluctantly pulled her gun out, just as a precaution. She hated the fool thing, but knew better than to tempt fate by not being prepared. It was just this sort of thing that had come back to haunt them in the past, so she wasn't taking any chances. Ianto had pulled a screwdriver out of the boot when they had gotten out of Julia's car and he used it to carefully lift one edge of the iridescent glass. The only thing beneath it was the grass, and Julia sighed in relief when nothing popped out at him. Although the readings had been that it was inorganic, there was always the possibility that something didn't read right. She was glad that this time it was accurate.

"It does look like a piece of glass, doesn't it?" Ianto mused. The sunlight had caught the sheet and had reflected a colorful rainbow of light onto the grass below. Ianto pulled out a set of gloves to wear and put them on before cautiously picking the item up. He stood and Julia leaned in close to look at it.

"Part of a ship, perhaps?" She asked, curious as to what it might be. Ianto shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as anything else," he said with a smile. "If so, they're flying without part of a windshield." He carried the rather lightweight piece of glass back to Julia's car and stored it in the boot before coming back to where she stood. She was scanning the area with her eyes, looking for something else that might have come through the rift.

"Where's our next sighting?" She asked, her hands on her hips. Ianto scanned the area and pointed off to the edge of the pitch near a stand of trees. "All right, the day isn't growing any younger with us just standing here. Shall we?" Ianto smiled and nodded, and together they walked across the grass in the direction he had indicated.

Rob pulled into the underground garage and shut off the engine with a sigh. The drive back had been a bit loud as the infants had woken up and were crying. And if that hadn't been bad enough, one of the adults had woken up from its stupor and was struggling to get to the babies. The resulting noise was enough to give both him and Todd a headache as they listened to the screeches and yowls of the parent.

"Finally!" Todd said as he opened the door, eager to get away from the noise which had reverberated around the inside of the UAV for what had seemed like hours, though in reality it had been just a short drive from where they had picked the Weevils up. "I think I've lost my hearing!"

Rob chuckled and moved to the back of the UAV where they opened the back. Immediately the cries of the Weevils echoed in the large chamber, making the ruckus seem like there were easily a dozen Weevils instead of the five they had retrieved. The other adult was now awake and was glaring at them with its beady eyes. Todd shivered as he stared into the Weevil's gaze.

"That is just creepy," he muttered as he abruptly shifted directions and went for the feet, allowing Rob to deal with the head. Rob chuckled again, but didn't complain as the two men heaved the Weevil up and out of the vehicle, quickly bringing it inside and down to one of the holding pens. They worked quickly, knowing that Jack was currently on his own. That made Rob nervous, because it seemed like it would be just the time that something else would happen. He knew that the rift alerts really weren't planned, but were rather a result of the disturbance in the rift eddies, but after everything that had happened, it felt almost malevolent and deliberate to him. He quietly urged Todd to hurry as they made their way back up to the UAV and retrieved the other parent and brought it down to the pens.

"I suppose we should keep them together, huh?" Todd asked. Rob nodded, thinking that if they separated them that they'd hear the screaming all the way back up in the main Hub. They judiciously used their spray to push the male to the other end of the cell before releasing the female. Once the door was closed, the two slammed against the plexi panel, They were desperate to get to their children, so Rob left Todd there to watch them as he headed back up to the UAV to retrieve the box. The infants were whimpering, having tired themselves out during the journey back to the Hub. He easily lifted the box, marveling that here they had three new Weevils that some day they'd be chasing about. He was sure that Julia would be interested in studying both the infants as well as the family dynamic between the parents and the children. He wondered how Julia and Ianto were doing on their find and retrieve mission. Shaking his head, he headed back down to the cells to reunite the Weevil family with one another.

*


	89. Chapter 89

Ianto and Julia had picked up half a dozen bits and pieces of space trash along with one rather large weapon before they decided they had found everything that there was to find. Ianto did one last scan and finally admitted that there was nothing else to find. With a sigh, he turned back towards Julia's car.

"That's it," he told her and she nodded. She had been monitoring transmissions and had been listening with interest to Rob's account of the Weevil family. She was definitely interested in doing a study of them, if only to understand the way they interacted, if nothing else. The Weevils were still a bit of a mystery, despite her studies as well as the copious notes from many predecessors before her. They were back at the car and getting in before she was able to focus on the drive back.

"Have you ever wondered where the Weevils actually come from?" She asked as she pointed the car back in the direction of Mermaid Quay. Ianto chuckled at her question.

"I think that's one of life's great unanswered mysteries," he informed her. "I once thought they were escaped prison convicts, based on the uniform clothing." Julia laughed softly. It was as good an explanation as any other one that she had heard.

"Ah, so perhaps they're using the rift to escape, or perhaps it is a relocation program for an overcrowded prison planet," she mused. Ianto chuckled at the idea of the Earth being used as a dumping ground for excess Weevils.

"Or perhaps they've booked a trip that went awry and they ended up on Earth instead of some other exotic location," he responded. "Though I can't see what kind of exotic locations they may have been headed towards if they think that the sewers are a good alternative."

"It does make one wonder, doesn't it?" She asked. Ianto agreed and they ended their trip in silence. Julia could see that Ianto was restless. She could figure it out for herself that he was nervous that something would happen to Jack while they were otherwise occupied. It was with relief that they heard Rob and Todd had returned to the Hub. Ianto let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.

"He'll be okay," Julia assured him. They were now stuck in the morning commute as people headed off to work. Ianto was making an effort not to fidget, but she could see that he was tense from the way he gripped the arm rest on the door of the car. "We're almost there."

"Have you ever thought that the universe sometimes conspires against us?" Ianto asked as he watched another traffic jam from a cross street stop them from getting through the intersection.

"Oh, like a cosmic joke, perhaps?" Julia asked with a smile. Ianto grunted in response and he resisted the urge to just jump out of the car and start walking. "Patience is a virtue," she told him.

"I was never virtuous," Ianto told her. She laughed and he had to grin in response. "Actually, I'm surprised."

"Surprised about what?" She responded as she crept a little closer to the intersection before getting stuck again behind a lorry.

"That you haven't been asking when Jack and I are going to move out of the Hub and get a life," Ianto said wryly. She smiled at him. "I know you've been talking to Jack about it."

"Jack and I have come to an understanding," she said as she shifted gears and this time they got through the light. Ianto bit back a sigh of relief. Whether it was because they were finally making progress in their journey or because she admitted that she wasn't going to be bugging him about his domestic arrangements with Jack, she wasn't sure. "He rightly reminded me that it is none of my business."

Ianto could only imagine how that conversation must have gone. For Jack to say something at all, he must have thought it was bothering him. It really wasn't, but still, because he knew that Julia meant well and only had their best interests at heart. They got stuck at the next intersection and he stifled a sigh.

"We'll make it before anything happens," she assured him. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He didn't think that the rift would wait for them to return before spitting something else out at them again. But still, he tried to take heart from her words and think positively. It was with a great sense of relief that they finally made it down to the Quay and he knew if he had to, he could get to the Hub and not wait for Julia to drive around.

Back in the Hub, Rob and Todd joined Jack who was inspecting the connections one last time and had mounted the circuit board with the diamond onto the side of the Kralyro nosecone. He was crouched down next to it checking the supports as they entered the playroom.

"So, we're now a creche, huh?" He asked with a grin as he looked up at the two men. Todd seemed a bit disheveled and annoyed, although Rob looked amused.

"Apparently. Have you ever seen a baby Weevil? They're awfully cute. Can we keep them, Dad?" He teased and Jack laughed outright.

"Are you going to walk it and clean out its cage?" Jack asked, taking on the persona of a father asking his son if he was going to take care of the family pet.

"Got a feeling I'm going to have to do that anyhow," Rob said with a grin. "And actually, the babies are cute. Makes you wonder what happens when they get older."

"They take ugly pills?" Todd muttered as he went back to his computer console, still feeling a bit disgruntled by their adventure. The two men let him be as he went back to his more comfortable computer, which didn't spit or growl at him. Rob knelt down next to Jack and examined the way he had mounted the board onto the side of the ship.

"Can you show me how you did this? Just in case we need to do it with the spare board?" He asked. Jack quirked an eyebrow at him. He didn't think that Rob and Ianto had talked about the possibility of him going back through the swarm, but they were definitely on the same wavelength when it came to planning for backups. Jack nodded and quietly went over what Rob would need to do to reattach the other board to the ship. He also showed Rob how to release the diamond from the clamps holding it in place and how to transfer that to the new board.

"So here's the big question," Rob finally said as he mentally filed away Jack's tips. Jack glanced up at him with a look of enquiry on his face. "If you're going to be using the manipulator to control this, how do we control it if you're not here?"

"It's not a definite I'm going anywhere," Jack told him. Rob just shrugged and Jack grinned. "Okay, let's say that for some reason, I have to go through the opening and tackle what's on the other side. I'm hoping that I'm able to force the swarm window to stay open. But if not, I want you to go to my office and log into my computer using a password called rhea silva. That will get you access to an emulator which will allow you to mimic my vortex manipulator. What you're going to have to do is the following," Jack told him. Using his own manipulator, he showed Rob the keystrokes which would start the sequence to restart the portal opening if they needed it.

"How does it work if we open it?" Rob asked, curious, since he knew that from Jack's explanation, the Kralyro ship was designed to leapfrog. "Wouldn't we need to lock in on the Thral'dor to get to you?" Jack sighed. Rob was asking all the right questions, but it was making him think of all the things that could go wrong in the process.

"Yeah, you do. I've set this up as a backup, in case we need it. There's something I haven't told Ianto," Jack admitted. "And that's the fact that you're going to have to wait until the battery recharges on the force field before you can use it again. And under no circumstances are you to activate the swarm window without having that backup." He stared at Rob until he got a nod. "If something goes wrong and the leapfrogging doesn't work, I want to know that you guys are safe here, and not putting yourselves in danger.

"The most important thing in this mission is to ensure that Sian Davies remains unharmed," he said in a low intense voice. Rob stared into his eyes and nodded. "The second important thing is that none of you get hurt in the process. I'm expendable," he said. He put up a hand to forestall Rob's protest. "You may not believe that, but it's true. As a team, you can handle anything that comes through the rift on your own. It may take you a bit longer without me, but I have complete confidence that you can run this place on your own."

"And what do I say to Ianto if we can't get you back?" Rob asked quietly. Jack sighed and scrubbed his face.

"I'll speak with him. I'm not going anywhere without doing that," he said in reply. "But he knows what is at stake here, and he's a smart cookie. He knows also what I'm going to have to do. I didn't even tell him, but he has a way of figuring those things I don't want him to know on his own, anyhow." Jack smiled wryly as he made that comment.

"Rob, I have every intention in getting back here," he said. "There's no place in the universe I'd rather be than here. If for some reason, something goes haywire and I can't make it back through the portal, I will do everything in my power to find another way back. Even if it means hitchhiking on a trawler to get here." He sighed. "God, I hope I don't have to do that. Last time it was a garbage scow and I'd rather not repeat that experience." Rob chuckled at the tone of his voice.

The two men separated as they heard the cog wheel door open and heard the voices of Julia and Ianto.

"Just don't forget to have that conversation, okay?" Rob asked. He didn't look forward to having to explain it to Ianto if Jack didn't do as he said. Jack gave him that cheesy grin that he used for covering awkward moments and Rob just had to settle for hoping that he would do as he said.

"We miss anything?" Ianto asked as he almost bounded into the playroom. Julia followed him at a more leisurely pace. Ianto was carrying in a box with their collection of bits and pieces that had been left behind by the rift. He put that down on the empty table next to Jack.

"Nothing special," Jack said as he leaned over and peered into the box. "Bring me anything good?"

"Not really. Just more junk to catalogue unless you count an alien gun that doesn't seem to work," Ianto responded. Jack looked up and Rob went over to examine their find. "It never seems to end." Jack grinned at the note in Ianto's voice.

"I thought you liked cataloguing stuff, Ianto," he teased. "It brings order to the place."

"True, if it not for the centuries of back cataloguing yet to be accomplished," Ianto said with a sour note to his voice. Jack laughed outright at his comment.

Jack looked over at the weapon that Rob picked up. "Oh, that's junk," he said. Rob raised an eyebrow at Jack's quick assessment. "Well, unless you're a Mancaran Droth soldier," Jack went on to say. "Those weapons can only be used by the soldier that made them. It is tied to their neurological pattern and can't be used by anyone else. If someone tries, they're fried instantly." He chuckled as Rob hastily set the weapon back down again. "It's useless to anyone else. Even another Mancaran." He noticed that Ianto was looking glumly down at the box in front of him.

"It's okay, you don't have to do the boring stuff. Sherry's here to help," he informed him. Ianto only grunted and turned away, deciding that since nothing of worth was happening at the moment that it was time to bring the box downstairs and out of harm's way. He passed Sherry on the way down and she told him that she was going to be making coffee. She also told him to just leave that box on her desk and she'd deal with it later.

When Ianto returned, the Hub seemed almost back to normal. Julia had gone down to check on the new arrivals, Todd was busy at his computer as usual and Jack and Rob were going over details on the security for the playroom. Ianto gratefully accepted a mug of coffee from Sherry and headed in the direction of the two men.

"So that's about it," Rob said. He had outlined his plans with Jack for how they were going to restrain whatever it was that came through. "The only question is when we'll know to have Sian in position. I'd hate to leave her in that cage for too long, but on the other hand, I'd hate for her to be vulnerable when the portal is opening."

"Yeah, I was thinking about that," Jack said with a sigh. He turned towards Ianto. "How long do you think it took for the portal to open before the swarm came through at Sian's house? Do you think that if it started happening here, we'd have enough time to get her from her room and into the cage before all hell breaks loose?"

Ianto considered Jack's question carefully. "Well, to be honest, I was in the other room with Sian when it started happening. Kip..." here Ianto paused as he felt the pain of speaking the other man's name. Jack gave him an encouraging nod and he continued. "He shouted out once something started happening, so maybe a minute or two for him to notice that something was going on in the first place, then things started going crazy with the electricity." Rob listened closely, even though he had heard it before. Any detail at this point was important. "The wind kicked up at the same time, but we noticed the static electricity first." Ianto thought about it for a long moment. "Say about five to ten minutes from when he shouted to when it started to open. I wish I could be more precise, but I really wasn't looking at my watch."

"No, that's okay. The question is whether we should have Sian close by so we can move her faster. She is down a few levels and it would take her a bit to get up here if we needed to hurry."

"I've already spoken with her about it," Sherry said as she brought a tray of coffee for the others over. She handed Jack his mug before giving another to Rob. "She's willing to stay up here whenever you think she should, even to sleeping on the sofa if that's what it takes to stop this madness."

"I'm not going to ask her to sleep on the sofa!" Jack declared, shaking his head. "No, but we can move her bed up to the board room if we have to. That at least is more easily accessible, since it's only one level down."

"We could also set up something here," Ianto said as he nodded in the direction of Julia's domain. "At least it would provide her some privacy, though I don't know how Julia would feel about it."

"Julia would find it acceptable," the doctor said as she passed through the archway and into the main room. One thing about the place was that the acoustics were very good, so she had heard the tail end of the conversation as she was coming up. "Barring any kind of catastrophic injury to someone that would need that space, which I'm hoping won't occur."

Jack had turned to look at her as she spoke. He nodded. "Thank you, Doctor. It's kind of you to be accommodating."

"She's been very accommodating to us so far, there's no reason why I can't return the favor," Julia said equitably. She sat down in her chair and regarded the two men. "It all seems to be coming to a head, so better to be prepared for whatever eventuality happens."

"Indeed," Ianto said with a nod. He turned back to Jack. "I'll go set it up." Jack nodded and Ianto moved over to Julia and started discussing the best way of locating things in the OR so that she could still get to what she needed. After putting their heads together for a few minutes, the two went down the steps and started rearranging the room. Sherry went in a few minutes later and they discussed bringing a spare bed in that would replace the table in the middle of the room. She also suggested a privacy screen and said she would locate one in the archives. Ianto smiled up at her from where he was moving one of the cabinets off to the side.

Once that was settled, he went with Sherry down to the lower storage area to retrieve what they would need. Between the two of them they transformed the sterile room to something more comfortable for a young woman. Jack stepped through the archway and leaned on the railing as he watched them finish prepping the room.

"Nice job," he observed. He startled Sherry, who hadn't realized he had been overseeing their efforts from above. Ianto merely glanced up and smiled. He always knew where Jack was, and had been aware of his scrutiny while they worked. He put his hands on his hips and surveyed the room. It had been transformed from a cold ceramic room to something much warmer and accommodating for their guest.

"I think this will do nicely," Ianto said to Sherry with a nod. "Would you like to bring her up and have her take a look?" With another nod she climbed the stairs and moved past Jack to go get Sian. Ianto leaned against a counter and crossed his arms. "It's all coming together."

Jack nodded in agreement. It was indeed. He was no longer feeling antsy about things, but had come to the conclusion that they were going to be as ready as they could be for whatever happened next. He smiled wryly to himself. How many times in the past had he thought that his team had been ready? Though, he reflected, they had been able to stop whatever it was, but at great personal sacrifice. He sighed, not wanting to get morbid about the upcoming challenge that they were facing.

He was so lost in thought that it wasn't until Ianto gently touched him that he realized the other man had moved and was now standing next to him. "What?"

"You seemed lost in thought," Ianto had been watching him closely. Over the years, he had learned how to read Jack fairly well. They could hear the sounds of the two women approaching and moved through the archway. Sherry was talking animatedly to Sian, and it was obvious that she was enthusiastic about the new room, since she described it in detail as they walked towards Jack and Ianto.

Sian smiled tentatively at Jack and Ianto as they approached. Jack gave her a wink and one of his more charming smiles, banishing his doubts for the moment.

"Mrs. Davies, how are you doing? I regret that we haven't the most hospitable location in terms of comfort, but we try our best." Jack said to the young woman. Ianto could see that she relaxed visibly under his banter. Taking his cue from the captain, he nodded amiably.

"Not quite the comforts of home, but we do try our best," he said with a nod to Sian. She nodded.

"I do understand that this place wasn't really designed as a four star hotel, so I'm willing to make allowances," she replied. Jack chuckled in response. He really liked Sian Davies. She had been through a lot over the past few weeks and still kept her indomitable spirit intact. He had to admire that in the woman. And he knew that her strength and fortitude was going to be severely tested soon.

He stepped out of the way as Sherry led Sian to her new room. He could hear Sian pointing out what little amenities there were. Sian smiled and nodded as she talked and told her that anything they did was fine, since she knew that they were in a bit of a spot trying to keep her safe. Once they had been through the room, she turned of her own accord and approached Jack.

"Captain?" She asked. Jack had been looking into the playroom and making some mental plans based on the layout of the room and the items they had to work with. He turned at the sound of her voice and smiled.

"Yes, Mrs. Davies?" He asked.

"Please, call me Sian. Mrs. Davies makes me sound like my mother-in-law," she said with a delicate shudder. Jack laughed at her comment and nodded.

"All right, Sian it is. What can I help you with?" He asked.

"I was hoping you might be able to explain to me exactly what is going to happen. I think if I have enough knowledge ahead of time that I might not be so frightened once things are in motion," she said in a bit of a rush, trying to get all the words out before she could stumble over them. While Jack and the team had been extremely kind to her, she was still a bit intimidated by all of the technology and strange devices that were about.

Jack was at a loss at how to respond to her. Mainly because he didn't know what was going to happen himself. Rob could see that he seemed to be hesitating and stepped in to respond.

"Well, to be honest, we don't know exactly what will happen," he admitted. Jack looked over at him, concerned he may tell the woman too much. "But we have a good working theory. And that is that we have the ability to capture the person or persons responsible for this. If we can bring them here, perhaps we can reason with them and try to make them understand what they're doing is wrong. I've found that often it's easier to attack someone when you can't see the face on the other side," he continued, referring to his past as an SAS officer. "But when you meet them face to face, it's a whole different story. We're hoping that once we talk to this person that we can have them stop what they are doing."

Sian nodded. What Rob said made perfect sense. "So how do we go about it?" She asked. Rob motioned for her to come over to the area where the Kralyro nosecone was and he explained what he could in terms that might make sense to her. She stared soberly at the cage facing the alien ship.

"So this is where I'll be just in case your calculations are off and you can't pull the assassin in, but instead we get more of those creatures who killed my husband and your teammate," she said calmly. Rob nodded. "Will I be safe in here?"

"Yes, we've found that the creatures are allergic, for want of a better term, to iron. This cage should protect you from harm if that happens," Rob explained.

"And what protects the rest of you?" Sian asked. By this time, all of the team was gathered around and had been listening to their conversation. Jack was leaning against a support pole, his arms crossed. He was impressed with Sian's astute knowledge of what was going to happen as well as her concern for his team. It also showed that while she was scared, she was determined not to let that get to her, and was thinking things through. He appreciated that as well. Ianto was seated off to the side in a chair, sipping a cup of coffee. Julia sat by quietly, ready to provide support, if needed. But as far as Jack could see, Rob seemed to be handling it all very well.

"Well, with any luck, the Thral'dor won't be coming through the portal," Rob said with a smile. "Without luck, we have made preparations for that eventuality, with the hopes that we won't have to use them. So don't worry about us. We are more than able to handle anything that comes through ourselves. Our main objective is to keep you and your child safe. And to stop them from doing any more harm to anyone else."

"So what happens next?" Sian asked. She had walked around the cage and opened the door. Stepping inside, she stared at the team through the metal bars. They all watched her quietly, their faces unreadable. "Do I just take up residence here, just in case?"

"Now that wouldn't be very comfortable, would it?" Jack asked with a chuckle. He pushed off against the pole and walked over to where she stood in the cage. "That's why we're moving you up to this level. When the swarm starts, we'll have enough time to get you in the cage. And since you're the focus, we want you close, but no need to camp out in there, unless you want to," he said with a winning smile which she returned. "No, we'll have you bunk in the next room, and will be closely monitoring the signs for a portal open. We should have more than enough time to get you and ourselves in position."

"And then what?" She asked. She stepped out of the cage and gently closed the door.

"Well, the portal will open, we'll engage out technology to leapfrog over the Thral'dor's planet to the point at which the portal originates. Then, using the pulling technology of the matrix, we'll bring whomever or whatever is on the other side to us," Jack said. "Then we talk to them. Try to find out why they're doing what they are doing and see if there is a way to stop them."

"And if you can't?" Sian asked him, her chin tilted up a little defiantly.

"Can't isn't a word I accept in my vocabulary," Jack told her. "We'll stop them, one way or another. We are not without resources, after all, and we are bringing them right into the base of our operations. We have the advantage here, Sian. They don't know we have this capability, so they won't be expecting it. They don't know what we're capable of. That's going to keep them off balance, and give us an even greater advantage. And I intend to press that as far as I can to get answers and resolve this, once and for all," Jack told her. She nodded, accepting his confident statement.

Ianto allowed himself a tiny smile. Jack exuded confidence when he wanted. And to Ianto, that meant that Jack wasn't confident at all about what was going to happen, but was putting up a facade with the thought that if you act like you were going to win, you would. Jack finished his conversation with Sian and she went quietly into her new room to rest. Sherry had brought up what little personal effects she had, and soon she was settled in the OR, leaving the team alone.


	90. Chapter 90

Jack stared after her for a long moment as he thought. Nodding, he went over to Todd, who was working at his station. Todd looked up at him as he approached.

"Hey Boss," Todd said. "What can I help you with?"

"I want you to start monitoring the board with the diamond," Jack responded. "It should be pulsing at a frequency that is traceable by the internal systems monitors. I want you to set up a sniffer program to monitor slight changes. It should be sensitive to any portal fluctuations, thanks to the gas I pumped through the Star. It should give us an early warning once it goes active." Todd nodded and turned back to his console. Fingers flying over the keyboard, he brought up the internal monitoring system and tapped into it, using the sensitive devices around the room to monitor the circuit board on the side of the Kralyro ship. Jack watched as he easily accomplished it in a manner of moments. Todd hit the enter key with a flourish and turned to grin at his boss. "Next request?"

Jack chuckled. He loved a computer geek, and Todd was right up there with the best of them, including Toshiko, of whom he had been in awe. "Good job," he said as he patted Todd in the back. "Now, I want you to do me another favor."

"What's that?" Todd asked. He had his hands poised over the keys, ready to do whatever it was that Jack needed.

"I want you to see if you can set up a program that will be able to monitor the portal opening," Jack said. Todd's jaw dropped open at the request. "Oh, don't give me that look, you can do it. You're the best, Todd. And it can be done. You just need to find something that will lock into the frequency of the signal. And, using the rift manipulator, either hold it open, or give us the ability to re-open it in the exact or close to exact location." Todd got a faraway look on his face as he thought out what he was going to have to do to make Jack's request work. He stood still for several minutes while he thought. Then, he went to work. He brought up a coding window and started to work diligently, leaving in some variables that would have to be tweaked on the fly. It was going to be a bit of a hit or miss, but he thought he could get something that would at least give them some coordinates. Whether he could force the portal to stay open was another story. He chewed on a hangnail as he thought about it. He had one hell of a supercomputer to work with, and with the power of the manipulator, he should be able to cobble something together. He turned back to his display and started typing.

Jack watched him for a few minutes and turned, letting him do what he did best. When he turned, he saw Ianto watching him closely. He smiled at the other man and nodded his chin in the direction of his office. Ianto got up and followed him into the other room, closing the door behind them. Jack sat down in his chair and Ianto perched against the edge of the desk, his arms crossed.

"Well?" He asked Ianto. "What do you think?"

"It has to work," Ianto said with a nod. "I like the idea of being able to forcibly hold the portal open. That gives us a much greater control in the long run. The only question is, can Todd do it?" He leaned back against the desk with his hands and crossed his ankles over one another.

"If anyone can do it, it will be Todd. The man is brilliant, he just lacks confidence in his abilities," Jack said with a smile. "Remember, this is the man who hacked into the MOD, NORAD, CERN and NASA for an MMORPG. Give him a puzzle, and he's going to come up with something brilliant. In fact, I bet it will be better than what I originally suggested. Todd has this ability to take a leap of logic that wouldn't occur to anyone else. He doesn't know how he does it, but somehow he gets the job done. Hopefully we'll have enough time to let him get to that point before all hell breaks loose," Jack said. He leaned back in his chair, the springs squeaking in protest.

"And if he's able to do it, and hold the portal open, what do we do then?" Ianto asked. Jack shook his head.

"Not we. Me. I'm going to go through it to the other side," Jack said. Ianto had known this was going to be the answer, but it was another thing to actually hear Jack admit it. "To say we could pull someone through with just the Star attached to the Kralyro ship was a misnomer. It is only going to open the portal. We'll have to drag someone through the opening over to us. And the we is me," Jack said, pointing a thumb at his chest. He met Ianto's eyes squarely, knowing he had to address this head on. "I'll jump through to the other side. To either find the contract holder, or stop whatever technology they have on the other side for creating these portals. With luck, I get the person in charge and scare them into stopping this thing."

"And without luck?" Ianto asked. He hated to think of the alternative, but he knew that he - that they had to do so. "What happens then, Jack?"

Jack stared up into Ianto's concerned gaze. "Well, I was kind of hoping we would have the luck part going for us, actually." Ianto didn't smile and Jack leaned forward. He put a reassuring hand on Ianto's thigh and rubbed it. "But if for some reason our luck doesn't hold, that would mean that the portal could possibly close with me on the other side. That's why I asked Todd to do that sniffer program. Not only is it an early warning system, but it will also record the coordinates for the other side. If we burn out the board in the process, we have the other one. With luck, you can transfer the Star of Africa to the other board we built and activate the ship to reopen the portal."

"Wait a minute," Ianto said as he heard Jack out and worked through the logic of the other man's argument. "If the Kralyro ship leapfrogs, won't you need the Thral'dor's location so we can hit that and leap over it back to where you are? How are we going to do that?"

"Good question. We going to be able to record the Thral'dor location with the sniffer program, as well as the final destination once the board kicks in and leapfrogs over their planet," Jack said. "We'll have all the numbers we need to recreate the portal."

"And how do we activate it?" Ianto asked. He reached down and placed his fingertips against Jack's wristband. "You're going to use your vortex manipulator to activate the board with the Star. How do we do it if you are wearing this on the other side of the universe, in another time and place?" Jack looked down at the long fingers which moved off the leather to caress his skin. "How do we get you back, Jack?"

Jack looked up. "I told Rob how to do it. I have an emulator program locked in the central computer. He has the access code as well as the information on how to use it. If for some reason we lose the connection and I'm on the other side, Rob can open it again. You also know the code. It hasn't changed, so you also have access to the program." Ianto stared down into his eyes, searching for something. Perhaps some truth as to whether it would work or not. He sighed softly.

"And what if we can't get it opened for some reason? We blow the board, or heaven forbid, we crack the diamond?" Ianto asked. "You'll be trapped on the other side. How do we.... how do I get you back?" At last, Ianto had asked the question that had been giving him some restless thoughts over the past couple of nights.

"If that should happen," Jack said, not breaking away from Ianto's intense gaze. "I will do whatever it is I have to do to get back here. The way I figure it, I'll be in the future somewhere in the 43rd century or beyond. Late enough to have the technology to do time travel, or at least get this working again," he said as he tapped his wristband with his finger. "I'll come back, I promise you."

Ianto could only trust that he would find a way to make it happen. He knew that if anyone could do it, it would be Jack. "All right, then I'll wait for you. For ever how long it takes. But Jack," he said, raising his finger and waggling it at his partner. "Make sure you come back close to the same date. After the first time you went off gallivanting with the Doctor, I would hope that you got your timing a little better than then."

"That wasn't my fault!" Jack said with a laugh as he protested. "That was the Doctor's fault! And no, he's never been really good about getting the exact date and time down right. And boy, did I learn that lesson over a few trips! No, my manipulator, while not as elegant as a TARDIS, tends to have less quirks and it definitely doesn't have a mind of its own. Which is a good thing, in my opinion. The TARDIS is one hell of an ornery lady when she wants to be," Jack said with a grin. Ianto smiled back and Jack relaxed. He knew that Ianto had accepted what was to come. He knew that he would move heaven and earth to get back to this time and place. And he would do so if he needed to. He just hoped it wasn't going to be necessary.

"So now we wait," Ianto said. Jack nodded. "What else can we do in the meantime? What do we need on hand when this thing opens up? Guns?"

"Sure, guns may help," Jack said. "I'm sure Rob would feel better if he had something tangible to hold." Ianto nodded at that and waited. "Cuffs, of course. Something to restrain them, maybe strap them into the mind probe chair or something like that."

"Good God, is that thing still around?" Ianto asked in amazement. "Didn't you learn your lesson the last few times someone blew up?"

"Hey, it's not that bad!" Jack protested with a laugh. "You know it worked in the past!"

"One time," Ianto said, adding a sour note to his voice as he disparaged Jack's choice of interrogation equipment. "Out of how many?" Jack laughed again. Their banter made him feel like they were back on safer ground now that they had gotten the serious considerations out of the way. "I noticed you didn't disregard the cuffs."

"There's always a use for handcuffs," Ianto said with a tiny smile on his face. "So those wouldn't necessarily go to waste if we had them to hand." Jack grinned at him. A moment later there was a knock on the door and Rob stuck his head in. "Yes?"

"Just wanted to know what armament you'd want on hand for whenever this thing goes down," Rob said as he stepped in the doorway. He ignored the posture of the two men, as well as the hand that Jack was rubbing against Ianto's leg. He had peered through the window before knocking to make sure he didn't interrupt anything not work related, but had been relatively sure that they had been discussing business, despite the somewhat intimate position they were in. Ianto swiveled slightly to face Rob and Jack let his hand trail off down below the edge of his desk. He did keep his hand on Ianto's calf and caressed it lightly.

"Funny, we were just talking about that," he responded and gestured for Rob to take one of the seats opposite his desk. Rob sat down and leaned back. "I figured you might feel better having something on hand for when the beasties come through."

"Let's hope the beasties don't come through," Ianto retorted. "I would prefer if we never saw them again, thank you." Jack laughed at the expression on his face. He looked outraged at the idea and he glared as Jack laughed at him.

"Okay, when the assassin and his, her or its cohorts come through from the other side," Jack amended. "The way I figure it, they'll be off balance when they get pulled through because they won't be expecting it. We get them over to this side and we keep them off base. If they're confused or disoriented, all the better. It may help us get the information we need faster so we can put an end to this whole thing."

"So when does it become necessary that you go through to the other side?" Ianto asked. Jack moved his gaze from Rob to Ianto as he responded to the question.

"If we can't get any information, I may need to go hunting on the other side," Jack stated. "It may be that the assassin doesn't know anything other than who their target is. I want to find out why there has been a hit put on Sian and her descendents, and a contract killer might not have that information. Many times they don't. It's a need to know basis and they don't need to know. They only need to have the target and a confirmed kill to get paid." Ianto sighed and rubbed a hand across his eyes.

"You do have a point there," Rob admitted. He had seen too many similar actions himself to discount what Jack said out of hand. "And presumably the confirmation is in the form of their enemy disappearing off the face of the earth. Or wherever it is they are." Jack nodded.

"Yeah. Put a monitor on your target and wait for them to disappear. Then you transfer the balance of the money into the assassin's account and you're both through with one another. The assassin goes back to the guild and you go off on your merry way."

"There's a guild?" Rob asked. Jack nodded. "Wow, so civilized."

"Actually, the Assassin's Guild is a very old and time honored profession," Jack informed him. "It dates far back into history, stretching farther back than you would realize. What was hard about the guild is that there was an understanding between them and the Time Agency. As long as the guild didn't try to go back in time and change history, the agency left them alone. "

"So murder is essentially legal in the future?" Rob wanted to know. He thought he should feel outraged, but he could see where there could be a definite need for that sort of thing. Ianto remained silent and just listened to their conversation.

"More or less," Jack said with a nod. "At least where the Time Agency was concerned. They left the legal stuff to someone else as long as no one mucked with the time lines. But all of this is to say that if I can't get the information here, I'm going to have to step through the portal to find it. At the very least, I hope to get some information about who the contract holder is. Sometimes an assassin doesn't even know who the person is, especially when it's been brokered by the guild. I'm kinda hoping that this is an independent set up, since they're using the Thral'dor to do the hit, and that is definitely not legal. Not if they're coming from the time I suspect they are. So that may help us a bit."

"That's a big assumption to make then," Rob said. Jack shrugged and lifted his hands in a surrendering gesture.

"We'll know when we pull them through," Jack said. "But since they're an unknown, I want us armed to the teeth. And I want the area surrounding the ship to be as secure as we can make it. Ianto, could you please go over those details of the force field and portable prison generator with Rob? I want us as prepared as possible. That will give us the best chances of ending this before someone else gets hurt."

"And what happens if for some reason this doesn't work the way we think it should and we get the Thral'dor instead?" Ianto asked. Rob nodded soberly. They needed to talk about all contingencies so they could be prepared.

"Well, they won't be able to get to Sian, and that's the important part," Jack said. "And as long as she is a potential target, they probably won't go after anyone else."

"That's a big assumption, Jack," Rob said in a warning tone.

"Well, from what Ianto said, they only went after Kip after Sian was out of their reach. This time, she's going to be in plain sight, they just won't be able to get to her. And no, I'm not thinking that the rest of us will be up for grabs. We use the same principles we were going to use for the assassin. We trap them with the available technology we have and push them back where they came from.

"This is what I want to do," Jack leaned forward and rested his arms on the top of his desk as he looked at Rob. "I want to position the two of you so that we have them covered. One behind the nosecone and out of the way, but able to intervene with our trap. The other, I want off to the side. Close enough to assist without becoming an immediate target. What Todd is working on now will give us the edge if it works. But I'm confident that he'll get it working and we'll be able to use it to our advantage. Once they're trapped, we have a small window to work. If it's the assassin, we can disarm them and get information out of them. If it's the Thral'dor, I can reverse the portal and send them back. Then we work on the leapfrog equipment and see why it didn't work. But I don't think it's going to come to that."

In the face of Jack's confidence, Rob couldn't find an argument. He nodded and told the two men that he was going down to prep the guns. Jack nodded and watched as he moved out of the office and down the archway to where the weapon's room was located. He looked back at Ianto, who was still leaning against his desk.

"So, anything else we need to discuss?" He wanted to know. Ianto shook his head. Jack reached up and touched his cheek.

"This is going to work. One way or another, we will get the answers we need and stop them from doing this. But it is going to work," he promised. Ianto leaned into his touch and sighed, closing his eyes. "You look tired. Maybe you should go downstairs and take a break."

"No," Ianto said with a shake of his head. "I don't think we're going to have time to rest. This is coming to a head, and soon." He turned to look out the window as yet another rift alarm went off. "See?" Jack swore softly. "It's still going on. The quiet time between alarms is getting shorter. It's the same pattern, Jack. They're trying to get through."


	91. Chapter 91

"Yeah, you're right. At least we know and can do something about it," Jack said. He dropped his hand and pushed off the edge of the desk as he stood up. "Let's go find out what it is this time," he said. Ianto nodded and quietly followed him back into the main room. "What do we have?" Jack called as they got close enough to talk to Todd.

Todd had minimized the screen he was working on and was observing the rift monitor. "Activity over in Perth," he said. He was still trying to localize what the problem was, but the area was a bit beyond their normal reach. "It looks odd, though." Jack stood up straighter and frowned.

"Odd, how?" He asked. He leaned closer and peered at the little squiggles. "Oh." At Ianto's look in enquiry he elaborated. "Negative rift spike," he said succinctly. Ianto sighed. "Okay, I'll handle this. On my own," he said, forestalling Ianto with a raised hand. "I need you two in position, just in case this is the beginning. I can handle a simple retrieval," Jack stated.

Ianto knew that Jack was right. They all couldn't go out every time the rift went haywire. And it was pretty obvious that things were coming to a head, sooner, rather than later. He nodded and Jack took off, heading in the direction of the UAV. He passed Rob who was just coming back with a couple of guns for them to use. Rob stared after him as he blew past, his coat billowing out behind him. He turned back to Ianto and Todd, his mouth open.

"Another rift alert," Ianto said. Rob nodded his understanding and didn't say anything more. The two men waited as Jack took off in the UAV to check out the latest alarm. They listened as he chatted on the coms until he got close, then he told them he was going to radio silence and to only contact him if another alert sounded. They waited anxiously, Ianto being the only one with the advantage of knowing what Jack was retrieving. Or rather whom - another victim of the rift. Ianto had looked through the records and was still aware that people were still dropping through the rift. Jack had confirmed that he hadn't told any of his new team about it. Ianto had warned that this may be a problem for them at some point if they found out, but Jack preferred to keep things quiet. In the end, Ianto acquiesced to Jack's wishes.

When it seemed that Jack had everything in hand, Rob went back to preparing for their upcoming visitor. He went over the guns with Ianto, making sure that he was familiar with them. Though the design was slightly different from what Ianto was used to, he was able to pick them up fairly easily. They placed the guns strategically around the room so that they would be easy to reach. Ianto went over the technology of the force field and the portal prison generator. Rob nodded his understanding and they worked out their positions relative to where the aliens would be appearing. A short while later they were done, and then it was time to wait.

Ianto hated waiting. There was part of him who just wanted it to be over with, and another part that wished it would never happen in the first place. Rob went back to his desk, working on other stuff he had had piling up over recent weeks. He had a hard time focusing on getting it done though, because of the increased tension that they all felt. It seemed like any moment something would happen, and Rob was almost twitching from the anticipation. It was very reminiscent of some of the SAS jobs he had been on, where one was on constant alert for hours on end. He watched as Ianto made a concerted effort to find something to occupy himself and he grinned in sympathy.

Ianto didn't relax until Jack had returned from Flat Holm. He frowned as he saw the unmistakable traces of blood on Jack's clothes. Julia had noticed as well and had walked over to Jack.

"It's not mine," he told her. She wasn't reassured, but took the time to examine him anyhow. When she questioned him about whom the blood belonged to, he brushed her off, telling her not to worry about it and that the person had been dealt with. Julia frowned at him, but he wouldn't tell her anything more.

Ianto shook his head and turned back to his computer. He had been monitoring things remotely and had known when Jack had left the island to return. Though there were no cameras out there, he had been able to get into the computer system there and track the intake flow of their new guest. He still had reservations about the fact that Jack refused to keep his staff informed about their side line business of retrieval and rehabilitation. Julia of all people should be involved, he thought to himself. He watched as Jack brushed off her concerns and knew that he was going to have to work on the other man. The team would have to know at some point, especially if they moved into that flat together and were outside of the Hub when another reverse spike occurred.

He knew why Jack did it – he was bothered by the fact that he couldn't stop people from being snatched through time by the rift and spit out in some pretty horrific locations before returning back to Cardiff. Ianto also knew that Jack had nightmares about all of the people who weren't returned, but were trapped in some awful place, alone and without friends. Ianto sighed softly. Jack took too much of the blame onto himself over something he had no control. He kept on hoping that Jack would see that, but it was one area where he really hadn't made any headway with the other man. He resolved to try again at some point once the current crisis was over.

Jack went off to his office to change. He half expected Ianto to follow him and was a bit disappointed when the other man didn't do as he anticipated. He took the time to shower before changing, binning his clothes as irreparable. It also avoided awkward questions from Sherry who would have been the one to do the cleaning and mending of his garments. He chuckled softly to himself over the fact he had instinctively removed his coat before leaving the UAV. That certainly would have been an issue for Ianto if he had had to repair his oft maligned greatcoat.

He climbed up the ladder to his office to find a steaming mug of coffee awaiting him. Glancing out the window, everyone still seemed to be in the same positions they had been in before he stepped downstairs. He pulled his braces up over his shoulders and sat in his chair, ignoring the protesting squeak of the springs as he sat back. Lifting the mug, he took a sip and sighed. All was quiet for the moment, but he was all too aware that the peace of the moment wasn't going to last. He pulled up the computer display in front of him and started searching the rift predictor. Two of the last three events had cropped up with little warning. That led him to believe that within six to twelve hours they would have their next attack. He opened another window with Rob's earlier comparison of the rift spikes from the last attack at Sian's house. Sliding that window over, he did a comparison. They were identical. He searched further back to the original event that occurred at the Parliament building. Again, the same pattern emerged. Jack leaned his chin on his hand and compared the three timelines, expanding each to get a good accounting of the time between events.

Now that they were in their third attempt by the assassin, it was easy to see the repeating pattern. The ripples were fairly obvious now that they had something to look back on, and in fact, he felt that based on what he had in front of him he could predict exactly when the portal as going to open. Grabbing a report that was stacked off to the side, he turned it over and began doing some rough calculations on the back, ignoring the fact that he was defacing a document that would then have to be filed away at some point. Staring down at his notes he nodded. Then he pushed back away from the desk and headed out of his office.

Taking the steps two at a time down the short staircase to where Rob sat, he startled the other man, who had been reading some in depth reports in hand to hand combat.

"Rob," Jack said as he approached. Todd looked up, hearing something in Jack's voice that made him take notice. "I think I've figured it out. We have less than an hour before the portal opens."

Rob looked startled. "Are you sure?" He asked. Jack nodded and explained what he had just figured out on his own. He pulled up the same records on Rob's console and showed him the parallel graphs. Rob nodded as he paid close attention. A moment later, a bell rang over at Todd's station.

"I'm picking up an increase in the fluctuations on the Star of Africa," Todd reported. That got Ianto's attention and he stood up and walked over to where the other two men were working. "It suddenly pinned for a moment before going back down to a normal level."

"It's beginning," Jack confirmed. He swept a glance around his team who were gathering around him. "Okay people, here's what we do. Sherry," he said to the young woman who had approached from the coffee area. "Let's get Sian into position. We have less than an hour before something happens, and I'd feel better about her being safe from harm." She nodded and started to move away. "Oh, and Sherry?" The young woman paused and looked back over her shoulder at him. "And once she's in position, I want you upstairs and monitoring things from above. You may have to take us into lockdown, and I need someone on the outside to open us back up if that's the case." She nodded reluctantly, knowing that he was also doing it to keep her safe from harm. "Please Sherry, you're my backup here." Nodding, she headed off to the OR to get Sian. Jack turned and looked at Todd.

"Todd, keep a close eye on that program and let me know when it stabilizes. Once it's pinned and staying there, we're probably close to when the portal is going to open. Also, open up that other program and keep an eye on it. I have a feeling that once the process starts, you're going to get more than enough info in terms of being able to get a feeling on how it is going to move, as well as some great data for both the Thral'dor endpoint as well as the final destination. Those numbers are going to be critical in case I have to cross over, so track those as well as see if you can force the opening so that it stays stable." Todd nodded and turned back to his computer console, watching everything that passed before him with an intense gaze.

"Rob, Ianto, let's get into position," Jack continued. The two men nodded grimly and they moved to either side of the nosecone, guns place strategically close to either man. Jack turned and faced Julia. "Jules, this might get messy. I want you and your kit behind the ship and off to the side. I need you to respond in case one of the boys gets hurt." Julia nodded and went off to collect the kit she had already assembled. Jack watched as Sherry led Sian into the cage. They had placed a chair inside with cushions, a blanket and Sian's knitting to keep her occupied. Ianto walked over and helped the young woman inside, making sure she was comfortable before closing the door of the cage. The resounding clang as the door closed echoed in the small area, the low ceiling causing it to reverberate.

Jack looked down at his wrist strap and tapped one of the buttons on his vortex manipulator. The small screen on the strap glowed before resolving into a small control panel using the software program that Todd had created. Jack nodded before checking his holster and his Webley. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Rob checking the gun closest to him. Jack circled around the Kralyro ship and stared intently at the circuit board which held the Star of Africa. Lights had begun to flash and the gem started pulsing slowly. He nodded in satisfaction. Everything was working.

Looking up, he met Ianto's gaze. Some silent communication passed between them and Ianto nodded. The time was coming fast upon them and they would have no time for anything more. Ianto just hoped that things worked out for the best. He moved into position on the other side of the nosecone and gently rested his hand on the top of the device. Jack stepped back and off to the side, having scooped up the portable prison generator. He was ready to deploy it as soon as something came through.

They waited. The first sign that something was beginning to happen was when Sherry walked past one of the computer consoles and the static charge blew out the display monitor. She stifled a screech and stepped away from it in a hurry.

"Okay people, it's happening," Jack said. He used a confident tone, staying calm and collected, and hoped that this would rub off on the others. "Sherry, upstairs please." Sherry nodded and after one last look at the team standing in a group around the nosecone, she headed out the cog wheel door and up the stairs, not trusting the lift to work with all of the electricity that was building up. Jack touched something on his wrist strap and the door slowly rolled closed. Julia took a couple of steps closer to where the two men stood, ready in case there was some sort of injury. She shivered, feeling the hair on her arms standing up as the static charge began to build.

Ianto remained focused on the space in front of the cone, concentrating on the small open area that was almost unbearably close to where Sian waited in the cage. He could feel that the air was beginning to move about, a wind rifling his hair where no wind should be. Images flashed in his mind as he remembered what had happened at Sian's house. The same things were happening as the wind picked up, tossing loose documents around the small area. The force field that they had set up protected the rest of the Hub, as well as Todd who was on the other side of the protection where he stood in the outer area near the water tower. Ianto could see Todd out of the corner of his eye and the man was white as a sheet. But he never faltered in his monitoring of the system and he called out a report as the numbers changed on his display. He was also working on another keyboard as he modified his program as more data became available about the portal that was now forming.

In addition to the wind, a glow started to form at the front of the nosecone to the Kralyro ship. An ungodly noise began, and Ianto heard a sound he had forgotten in the terror of the last manifestation. It was the sound of an animal screech and Sian pushed her chair as far back as she could as she stared in horrified fascination at the sight in front of her.

"Shit," Rob said as he saw something begin to come through. It wasn't human. Jack was working furiously on his vortex manipulator and a moment later there was a terrible screech as the portal changed colors from a glowing yellow light to a fluorescent green. The claw hastily withdrew and the light changed again to a darker green hue. Rob glanced down at the circuit board on the side of the Kralyro nosecone and he could see that the lights on the circuit board were flashing furiously as well as lights that now appeared on the front of the cone that hadn't been there before. This must be the leapfrog device, he thought with one portion of his brain while the rest focused on what was going on in the space before the nosecone. The Star of Africa glowed bright blue, and he could feel a wave of heat coming from the whole assembly, he was standing that close to it. He prayed that it would hold up to the stress and keep them safe. The portal began to expand.

Jack sighed in relief. It was working, though for a moment there he had been worried that the device wasn't going to make the jump to the point of origination. He banished the thoughts of what might have happened and concentrated on what was happening. The center of the portal was a white so bright that it was difficult to look at. From the center, there was an iridescent swirl that moved outwards in spirals. The colors fluctuated in a repeatable pattern as the iridescent fingers licked the silver edge like flames consuming material. Jack moved past Rob and in front of Sian. He felt better about being the first line of defense. The light was blinding and he slitted his eyes as he tried to see through to the other side.

Ianto stayed where he was, but he gave a tiny sigh of relief when Jack was able to make the device leap onto the next point. Hopefully it was the right one. He felt better when Jack stepped in front of the cage, shielding Sian from whatever was going to come through. If anything was going to come through. He wondered, since it was going to be fairly obvious to whoever was on the other side that there was a point to point portal opening right at their location instead of from the Thral'dor homeworld. He had a sinking feeling that whatever happened, Jack was going to have to go through to the other side. He had the urge to follow him if he did. At least they'd be together that way. He knew that Jack would be furious if he did that, though. Ianto bit his lip as he watched the portal grow larger.

Jack stood braced against the buffeting wind. He gazed intently through the bright light, trying to see what was on the other side.

"Jack!" Todd shouted so that he could be heard over the noise. "I'm getting some odd readings from the circuit board! I'm not sure if it's going to hold up long enough for what you want to do!"

"It's probably the modulator," Jack shouted back. "See if you can shunt any excess power into the internal backup. That's the brown box on your diagram," he explained, his voice loud as the wind abruptly died out. Jack staggered, the air he had been braced against no longer buffeting against him. "Okay people, this is it!" The portal had grown large and was starting to clear in the middle, giving them translucent shimmering glimpse to some place on the other side. Jack took a step closer and looked.

"Well, I'll be a son of a…" Jack's voice drifted off as he looked through the opening.

"What?" Rob asked. It was odd that he could see an image in the middle of the portal, yet still see Jack through it as well. The image shimmered for a bit before resolving into what appeared to be a dark corridor of some kind. "Do you recognize that place?"

"Yeah, I do," Jack said. He sighed heavily. "Of all the places this guy had to work out of, what did it have to be that one?" He complained. Ianto's gaze went from the dark hallway that looked like it was made of rough cut stone to Jack's face.

"Is this a problem?" He finally asked when Jack didn't care to elucidate further.

"No more a problem than anything else I expected," Jack said with a tiny smile. "I'm going to have to go through. Wherever this portal is, the assassin isn't nearby or else we'd see them. I'm going to have to go in and drag them back through." He looked over to Todd. "Can you lock in the coordinates?"

Todd's hands were flying across the keyboard. He nodded. "As long as that board holds up, yeah, I can keep this open. It's actually easier than I imagined it would be. But if that board blows, it's anyone's guess if I can get it open again. So be quick about whatever it is you need to do so I don't have to worry about that eventuality."

"I'll see what I can do," Jack said. He stepped closer towards the portal and Ianto instinctively moved in his direction. Jack held his hand up. "I need you here, Ianto. I'm leaving you in charge."

"But…." Ianto said. He glanced over at Rob who has his gun out and was aimed in the area where Jack was in case something came through at them. Jack gave him a look that asked him to just do as he said. Ianto bit his lip and nodded. "Don't take too long, yeah?"

"Yeah," Jack said. He gave the men a reassuring smile before focusing on the opening in front of him. "Here goes nothing!" With that, he leapt through the opening, disappearing a moment later. There was a flash and the portal dissolved into a myriad of colors which swirled violently for a moment as Todd tried to stabilize the signal again. Ianto waited anxiously as he watched; finally letting out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding when the image stabilized on the same stone walls again.

"So what now?" Sian asked from inside the cage. She had no intention of leaving it until this was all said and done.

"What now?" Ianto asked. "We wait." He returned his gaze to the dark walls on the other side of the universe and far off into their future. He wondered what Jack had recognized about the place and what memories it might have had for him. He felt at a loss for the moment, not knowing how long it would take for Jack to find the person on the other side and get them through the opening. Knowing he couldn't do anything else but wait, he leaned against the side of the Kralyro nosecone and crossed his arms. Rob relaxed slightly, but still kept himself focused on the portal, his arms steady as he held his gun.

*


	92. Chapter 92

Jack tumbled into a somersault as he came through the portal. As soon as he could, he got back up onto his feet and pointed the gun around. He was in a circular room which was empty. He growled softly. It was never easy, he thought to himself.

Peering through the portal, he could just see the playroom of the Hub, though the image was distorted. He stared at it for a couple of moments until he realized that he was looking at a warped view of the bars from Sian's cage. He ran his fingers through his hair before turning towards the door. The assassin could be anywhere in this warren. He should have known that it wouldn't be as easy as opening the portal right at the point of entry, but he knew he had to be close. He pressed up against the wall and cautiously peered through the opening. A long corridor branched off of the room. He listened intently. All was quiet. He pressed back against the wall and checked his vortex manipulator. He was getting a life sign from the level above, so he decided it was time to go pay a visit. Keeping his gun out, he stepped out into the hallway and made his way down the long stone corridor as quietly as he could.

Back at the Hub, Ianto waited, trying to avoid tapping his foot impatiently. He hated waiting. It was always better to be doing something, and his mind was full of questions, all caused by Jack's reaction to what was on the other side of the portal. How had Jack recognized the location, just on one glimpse of a dark and what looked to be dank image of a corridor? And was the fact he recognized the place a good or a bad thing? Did that mean he might actually know the assassin somehow? What if it was another Time Agent? Ianto fought back a shudder. What if it was his past self before he came to earth? Ianto shook his head and Rob looked over at him curiously for a moment before focusing back on the portal. No, Ianto decided. Jack would never work as an assassin, and he would have remembered it if it was in his past. But what if it was in his future, and he didn't know he was going back in time and attacking his former team? No, that couldn't be right, Ianto reasoned. He sighed. He really didn't know what the answer was, and any questions he came up tended to see more and more ridiculous. He stifled another sigh and vowed not to guess anymore at what might be the answers.

Jack crept along the corridor and paused before the junction with another corridor. He pressed his back against the cold stone and listened. He could hear the ever present drip of water. No surprise, given the planet he was on. He listened further, straining for any sense of movement from the person above him. He spared a glance towards his wrist strap and saw that the other person was still in the same place. Jack thought about it for a moment. Would the assassin know that they had hijacked their portal? Jack wasn't sure, but knew that he only had a finite amount of time before the assassin reversed the portal and sent the Thral'dor back to where they had come from. Not that they had ever arrived in the first place, Jack knew. He decided to take the chance of expediency over caution and headed along the passageway, trying to remain quiet, but moving along at a good clip. He turned again and reached a circular staircase. This was it. He knew from the layout of the place that his target was upstairs. The question was how he was going to get them and bring them back to the other side. And was it worth bringing them back or just dealing with them there? He shrugged, not really sure himself as to what was the best way to deal with whomever it was. He only knew that he wanted them to stop what they were doing and to leave Sian and her descendents alone.

He carefully began climbing the stairs, making sure that he made as little noise as possible as he worked his way up the circular stairs to the top….

Julia felt her eye twitching from the strain of waiting for something to happen. She tiredly rubbed her eyes, wanting the whole thing to be over and to have everything back to normal. Or as normal as Torchwood ever was. She knew that she wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything, so she just stayed where she was and waited. She could feel the tension from both Ianto and Rob as they waited as well. The three of them were inside the force field, at the mercy of whatever came through the portal. She had been relieved when the aliens hadn't been able to get through. Seeing a dead one was as close as she wanted to get to one of those creatures. And she didn't think that there would have been a way to stop one or more of them if they had come through the portal and not been able to get at Sian Davies. It was a good thing that Jack's theories so far seemed to be holding true, because the alternative was unthinkable.

At the top of the stairs Jack paused and listened intently. He could hear the whir of machinery and the sound of someone pacing back and forth. He waited until the footsteps were moving away before ducking his wristband out and taking a snapshot with his Vortex Manipulator. Pressing back against the stairwell wall, he peered down at the tiny display. There wasn't much detail in an image that small, but it gave him enough information to plan his next move. Knowing that he had a very limited window of time in which to act before his quarry became suspicious that someone had hijacked their portal window, he made his plan on the fly and timed his attack for when the assassin was facing away from the stairwell.

His plan, such as it was, wasn't much of a plan at all, but a course of action. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a set of cuffs to restrain the person. He was also getting life signs on the floor above him, so knew that he wasn't going to have the leisure of questioning the person where they were. He would have to drag them back through the portal where he had his team around him and was in control of the situation. Hopefully. He shook his head. No time for doubts, he thought to himself. Listening to the quiet tread inside the room, he moved when he felt the time was right.

A tall thin figure in dark robes stood looking into a display. Jack moved as quietly as possible until he was able to place his gun against the other's head. The figure froze.

"That's it," Jack said in an encouraging voice. "Stay where you are. You and I are going to have a little chat," he said. He slapped the cuffs on one arm and pulled it back, twisting the arm slightly to disable the assassin's ability to get the upper hand as he lowered the gun and grabbed the other arm to lock the cuff onto the thin wrist. Or at least, that was what he had planned.

With a sinuous grace the assassin twisted in his grip and attempted to turn the tables by grabbing Jack's wrist and twisting it viciously. Jack grimaced but fought back and the two struggled against the console that the cloaked figure had been watching so closely. Jack grunted, but the other remained silent. He couldn't see a face, only a swath of cloth that obscured the features, so he wasn't sure whether he was fighting a human or an alien. The two fought for dominance, Jack trying to throw the other off balance, but not succeeding. A moment later, the assassin pushed against him, shoving him towards the wall. Jack struggled not to lose his footing as the thin figure showed a surprising strength.

Ianto was getting nervous. Whatever it was Jack was doing, it was taking far too long. He looked over at Rob and saw a worried expression on the other man's face that he was sure matched his own.

"Something's wrong," he finally said. "I'm going after him."

"No!" Julia cried, not wanting to lose sight of another team member. "You don't know what he ran into, Ianto. It could be far dangerous, perhaps even deadly. He told you to stay here. You can't go running off," she said. She looked to Rob for confirmation, but Rob was already nodding in Ianto's direction.

"You're right. Go. Take the gun," he suggested. Ianto hefted the military grade rifle but also pocketed a stun gun, preferring a non-lethal alternative. Plus, it may be useful at a closer range. He stepped in front of the nosecone and looked over at Todd.

"How stable is this right now?" He asked. He peered through the swirling coJrens where the walls of the other side were still showing through the center of the portal.

"It's stable, but I'm concerned with how long that power is going to last. The board showed some severe fluctuations when the portal opened. Those seemed to have calmed down a bit, but anything could set it off. Ianto, if you go through there, there's no guarantee I can keep it open so you can get back," Todd said. Ianto nodded, acknowledging the possibility that he may get trapped on the other side.

"I'll take that chance, thanks," he said. "The priority is to help Jack and subdue this assassin. The rest doesn't matter." What he didn't say was that he would much rather be trapped along with Jack than wait however long it might take for Jack to come back to him. He met Rob's gaze and the other man nodded in response.

"Get back as soon as you can," Rob said. "Despite what Jack says, we need you two." Ianto smiled before focusing back on the moving image in front of him. He took a deep breath and then walked forward.


	93. Chapter 93

Stepping through the portal was like taking a ride through the clothes dryer. He stumbled and felt like he was spinning, even though a part of his brain knew he was still standing on the ground. Or whatever passed for the ground wherever he was. He felt a sense of weightlessness and as he transitioned from one world to another he could hear the slight traces of the wind from when the portal formed. He also felt his hair standing up on end as he dropped to his knees on the other side.

He didn't have much time to register his surroundings so much as he noticed the sounds of a struggle somewhere down the hallway. Bracing himself against the wall for a moment to stop his head from spinning he took a deep breath, shouldered the rifle and pushed off the wall in the direction of the hallway. He didn't look back, but had he done so, it would have shown Sian's pale face watching with a concerned look on her face. He came to a junction and paused, unsure of which direction to go. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and listened. Though the sound echoed in the empty space, once he concentrated he got a definite direction on where to go. He moved as quickly and quietly as he could to a staircase which curved up and around, hiding the upper level from view. He climbed the stairs, being careful not to make any noise that might alert whoever was above from knowing that he was coming up.

There was a thud against the far wall as he reached the top. He could see feet and recognized one set of boots as Jack's. The other was wearing all black. The figure had its back to him, and so he was able to move into the room. He moved quickly, not knowing when the fight was going to move Jack away from the wall and reveal him to them. Jack could see over the being's shoulder and his eyes widened slightly as he saw what Ianto was doing.

Jack couldn't believe that Ianto was there. Against orders, though if he were honest, he was very glad that once again Ianto had disobeyed a direct order. He concentrated on keeping the other's attention, relaxing slightly and allowing himself to be pushed up against the wall. The assassin pressed the advantage. Ianto slid in behind them and raised the stun gun. Jack kept his eyes trained on the obsidian mask that blocked his view of the assassin's face. He didn't want anything to give anything away. Ianto moved the gun into position and pulled the trigger.

The assassin arched up in reaction and Ianto grabbed the hanging handcuff while Jack spun the assassin around and pushed him up against the wall. Together, they cuffed the assassin and for good measure Jack used a second set that Ianto had on him to secure the assassin's legs. He pulled at the headgear, ignoring the struggles of their prisoner, and not worrying about the possibilities of the mask being a breather for a non-air breathing life form. At this point, he needed to see what was underneath. The mask came off and Jack stared down in shock at the face that was revealed.

The assassin was a woman. She stared up at him with defiant eyes, her hair coming out of the clip that held it in place. It drifted softly down and framed her heart-shaped face. A face that was very familiar.

"Good Lord," Ianto said softly as he stared down in shock at the woman who was the spitting image of Sian Davies. He looked up at Jack and saw the mirrored shock on his face.

Jack wasn't taking any chances. He reached down and forced the woman's mouth open and stuffed the fabric in it so she couldn't make any sound and alert anyone else. "We'll be asking questions later. First I want to shut this operation down," he said. He glanced at his vortex manipulator and saw that the portal was still holding steady. "Watch her carefully," he instructed Ianto as he moved over to the console that she had been working at and he started to examine the display there.

Nodding, he reached out and pressed a button. It brought up another set of items and he quickly shut down the device, programming it so that it wouldn't be functional again. He then put out a call to notify the local law enforcement, also keying in a code to the Time Agency that a severe violation was in place, giving the coordinates for the device.

While Jack worked, Ianto watched the woman closely. She had to be related to Sian. It was impossible for her to be anything else but a descendent. Questions filled his mind as he thought about why someone trained as an assassin would want to go back in time to kill their own ancestor. It seemed insane, but staring into the woman's eyes he saw that she seemed very sane and determined. She had to have had her reasons for what she did. But perhaps she didn't understand exactly what she was doing. He heard Jack moving behind him from one console to the next, occasionally tapping on buttons and keys and muttering to himself in a soft voice. Ianto wondered what they were going to do with the assassin, and whether there was any reasoning with someone who was obviously on a mission to kill someone else. He sighed softly and Jack glanced up at him before returning to what he was doing.

"There," Jack said with a final press of a button. "I've closed off the access to the Thral'dor and it won't be able to be used in that fashion again. I froze the program after sending the core information to the powers that be. They are going to be coming in here with some rather big questions. I'd rather not be here to have to answer any of them, so let's get her downstairs and through the portal. Once we've talked to her and found out what the heck is going on, we can figure out what we'll do with her later." Ianto nodded and moved about to get a grip on the woman's shoulders while Jack went for the feet.

She struggled, bucking and twisting in their grip as she tried to dislodge them, but between the two of them they were able to secure her enough for transport. Ianto waited for Jack to take the lead. Jack started backing towards the stairwell and together they slowly descended the spiral staircase to the floor below. Ianto wrinkled his nose, noticing a musty smell as they reached the bottom. He hadn't noticed it before, but then he had been focused on finding Jack, not the damp interior he was moving through.

They reached the corridor and moved along it, heading towards the small circular room at the end that held the portal. The assassin started to struggle in earnest as she caught sight of the portal shimmering behind Jack. The two men fought to contain the woman as she bucked violently.

"Whoa there, little lady!" Jack said with a laugh. "I'll tell you right now that you will prefer where we are going to what will be waiting upstairs for you in a few moments. Trust me on that one." She didn't seem to be listening, but tried to arch herself upwards and dislodge herself from their grip. Ianto didn't know why she bothered, since at best they'd only drop her and she would still be tied up. But that didn't seem to stop her at all. "Come on, Ianto. Best we get out of here right now." He lifted the arm with his watch and stared at it pensively for a moment. "We're running out of time. Here, let's put her down," he suggested. They did and Ianto leaned his hands on his knees, taking a moment to rest.

"Okay, you go first," Jack said to Ianto. "I'll toss her through to you and follow." Ianto nodded and moved into position in front of the portal. He hesitated as he went to go through.

"You are coming, right?" He asked, needing the reassurance that Jack wasn't going to stay in whatever time they were in. Jack nodded and smiled at him.

"Wild horses couldn't stop me from getting back there, Ianto. And that's a promise." He moved around the assassin and hauled her up into his arms. She struggled, but was unable to stop him from holding her. "Go."

With one last look, Ianto moved through the shimmering opening. He stumbled into the concrete floor of the Hub as he came through, the floor being at a lower level than the one he was just on. He dropped down, putting his hands out to stop himself from tumbling over. He could see the rest of the team reacting to his arrival but he focused on the portal and gestured towards the blurry image of Jack.

A moment later a black form hurtled through the opening as Jack pitched the woman through. Ianto grabbed her, but in the process fell down on his arse as he tried to break her fall.

"Portal's destabilizing!" Todd yelled. It was Ianto's worst fear.

"Jack!" He shouted. "Come on!" He didn't know if Jack could hear him through the shimmering opening, but he couldn't help himself from yelling. Jack started to come through and Todd shouted again. Ianto held his breath. He didn't know what would happen if the portal closed with Jack half in one location and half in the other. He shuddered to think of what could happen if it closed with him like that.

Jack was suddenly through, falling to his knees in front of Ianto. A moment later the portal winked out with an audible snap.

*

On a distant planet and in a galaxy far removed from the Milky Way, there were two flashes of light as two men from the Time Agency arrived. They were responding to a unique signal that could have only come from another agent. They had guns drawn and were standing back to back as they arrived in a small room with a massive computer console. One was tall with dark haired, the other a bit shorter and more slightly built, with closely cropped hair. The smaller of the two took a step forward, ignoring his partner's hiss.

"Whoever it was, they're gone," he said after another glance around. He checked his vortex manipulator. "Though there's someone upstairs. Maybe our quarry?"

"I want to know who the hell sent that signal," the taller one rumbled menacingly. It was a code that had only been used a few rare times in the agency, and usually signified an agent in trouble. But no one was there. "You want to go up and deal with them, or take a look at that?" He asked, gesturing towards the blinking console. He glanced around, noting that wherever they were, it seemed like some sort of castle. Water glistened in the crevasses and he wrinkled his nose at the smell. "Not a good venue for electronics, certainly."

"I'll go upstairs. You check out this," the second man said as he gestured towards the console behind him. "You're good at that sort of thing. Me, I'm a people person." He started walking towards a door on the other side of the room.

"Yeah, until you kill them," the first man muttered as he turned towards the console. He pressed a button and the display showed a document. "Huh."

"What?" The second man asked as he was about to go through the doorway and up the stairs. He looked over, but didn't see anything that warranted going back and looking at the display himself.

"Just in Agency code," the first man muttered. "Wished they had stuck around rather than just calling in the cavalry and taking off."

"Maybe it was you warning yourself," the other man said with a chuckle. "Then you couldn't be here because we'd have a paradox to worry about."

"Please! Can you see me hanging out here? I can't. No booze, no women," the first man exclaimed. "No men for that matter! What would I do in a place like this?"

"Maybe it's Jez playing one of his practical jokes again," the shorter man said with a grin. "It looks like the kind of thing he'd dream up."

"Maybe. Maybe not," the first man said as he continued to read the document. "Whoever it was, they were right about something. This device was used for time assassinations. I'm going to shut it down."

"Wait!" The second man said. "Don't we want to go and see what the damage is on the other side?"

"No way! I want to get back to that party. Those Trolarian triplets aren't going to wait forever. The sooner we clean this up and shut it down, the faster we can get back to what we were doing. You go upstairs and bring them down, and then we can get them into a cell and get back to what we really want to be doing." With a cheesy grin the first man turned back to the console, retrieved the evidence and started shutting it down.

*


	94. Chapter 94

Back on Earth in the 22nd century, the Torchwood team watched with amazement as Jack and Ianto hauled a young woman in black up to her feet. Julia blinked as she recognized the face in front of her.

"That can't be," she murmured softly.

"Close down the portal," Jack called out to Todd. "We can't have it open right now. If we send her back, we'll manually open it again." While the active portal had closed just after Jack had come through, Todd had been working to re-establish the link as it had started to go down and had stabilized it in a partially connected state. At Jack's command, Todd nodded and started the shutdown procedure to close the portal, but left the power up in case he had to reinitialize it again. The portal spiraled shut and gave an audible pop as it disappeared. Sian rubbed her ears as the air pressure changed.

"How is that possible?" Julia asked as she looked at the face of the assassin. It was obvious that Jack and Ianto weren't taking any chances and had the woman trussed up like a Christmas goose. Rob kept his gun trained on the woman between the two men. If they were being that cautious with her, she had to be a threat. And Rob had seen enough innocent looking people causing massive problems in his past. People tended to overlook them because they seemed harmless. And it was obvious from the state of the woman's dress that she was anything but.

"Sian Davies, meet a long lost relative," Jack said. He spun his captive around so that she was facing the woman in the cage. Sian looked into the face of the killer and gasped. It was like looking in a mirror. She was speechless. The young woman who was bound before her could be her twin.

Ianto kept a close watch on the assassin. He was glad that Sian kept her distance since he really didn't trust this woman to behave herself. He noted the look of shock in the assassin's face as she came face to face with her target. He wondered if she realized who she was going after, but then had to think that she knew. How could she not?

"Strap her down," Jack said with a nod of his chin towards the mind probe. Ianto nodded and together they pushed her into the chair and Ianto strapped her in, only releasing the cuffs as Jack kept hold of the young woman and forced her into place. Soon she was tied down. Ianto didn't put the headpiece on – they weren't going to do a probe, just keep her secure. The woman glared at the two men as they worked, but she remained silent.

When Ianto stepped back, she tested the binding, but the leather straps held her down. Subsiding, she sat back, deliberately looking away from where Sian sat in the cage. Ianto watched her closely. Jack stood behind the woman and considered what they wanted to ask first. He met Ianto's gaze and nodded. Then he moved around the chair and leaned against the table that Rob had been working at previously.

"Why?" Came his first question. The woman looked up at him defiantly, but didn't respond. Jack stared at her for a long moment. It was obvious she was going to be difficult. He crossed his arms and noted that her eyes flickered down towards the Webley strapped to his belt. "Don't even think of it," he told her. She narrowed her eyes, but said nothing.

Ianto moved, drawing her attention. He put down the rifle that had been slung across his shoulder. She looked from one man to another before glancing at the rest of the team, all of whom were still on alert. It made her smile.

Jack suddenly lunged forward and placed his hands on her arms, which were strapped down onto the chair. He gripped her forearms tightly, making her wince. "Talk." She raised her chin up and met his gaze, but said nothing. "We have ways of making you talk."

Ianto had to turn away to hide a grin. That line was so old, no one ever believed it. The only thing Jack was missing was the bad foreign accent and the Snidely Whiplash moustache. Though, come to think of it, he did have a foreign accent, Ianto reflected. He had to shake his head and sternly remind himself to refocus, since they did have a rather dangerous individual in their midst.

"I'd like to know why as well," Sian said. She was standing and gripping the bars of the cage as she faced the assassin. This woman had killed her husband, and four other innocent men. "What is so bad about your life that you want to kill people?" The assassin flinched as she heard Sian's voice.

Jack stared down steadily at the woman in front of him. He was trying to figure it out, since she wasn't giving out any details. What would make someone want to go back into their past and kill? What could have happened? And whatever it was, it had to be something that either happened early enough for this woman to decide to train as an assassin, or to have been a life altering event that changed the course of history. He let go of the woman and stepped back.

The assassin studiously avoided her accuser. She stared over Jack's shoulder, ignoring him. Jack sighed. He hated getting rough, but if that was what he was going to have to do, he'd do it. Before anyone could move, he slapped the woman. Her head moved backwards and she turned her cheek with the blow. It was obvious that she had been expecting something of the sort. Julia bit back a cry. She abhorred violence and seeing Jack strike out at the woman was a bit of a shock.

"We can do this the hard way if you want. It won't be pretty," Jack said in a conversational tone. "You're currently sitting in a chair that is built around some alien technology. I can use that to probe your mind. We have a fifty-fifty percent chance of frying your brain with it, though."

"More like eighty-twenty," Ianto said, falling into their old good cop, bad cop routine. He leaned back against the edge of the Kralyro ship and crossed his arms. "And that would be eighty percent chance of blowing your skull apart." The woman turned in his direction and stared at him for a moment before returning her attention to Jack.

"Ianto's not as optimistic as I am in regards to the technology we use. But then, he's had to clean up the mess when someone explodes," Jack said with a smile. The woman's gaze flickered back towards Ianto before coming back to Jack. "I'm always happy to experiment, though." There was a long moment of silence before he continued.

"Look, you've caused me a great deal of trouble. In fact, you wouldn't believe how much, not just in this time line, but in your own," Jack said. "Right now, there's a Time Agency team investigating your little set up, and I can pretty much guarantee that they're not too happy with what you've been doing. In fact, you can count yourself lucky we pulled you out of there, because had they found you, you'd be in some deep doo doo right now." Ianto tried to avoid frowning over Jack's choice of words. It didn't sound all that professional to be saying doo doo, he thought to himself. He watched, keeping his face impassive as Jack leaned in so that he was nose to nose with the woman in the chair.

"So why don't you just do yourself a favor, and start talking to us," Jack said. "Or we start with Option B, and I'll make sure Ianto brings a mop."

The young woman bit her lip. It was obvious that Jack was finally getting through to her. Her eyes shifted off to the side towards the cage to her right before looking around the space she was in. She took in the glowing translucent force field that blocked the room they were in off from the rest of the area. She couldn't see much because the force field obscured the details, but the space looked to be massive. There were several other members of whatever group that had kidnapped her braced with weapons, though the other woman that was there didn't look too comfortable with those.

The assassin thought about her options, noting the obvious military type with the gun aimed at her torso. He hadn't wavered since they had put her in the chair, and she had the impression he could hold that position for as long as he had to without getting tired. She looked at the man that the leader had referred to as Ianto. The man looked relaxed, but she was sure that was just a pose and that he would respond at a moment's notice. After all, he had been the one who had been able to sneak up on her and disable her. Her! A trained assassin from the Order of Gabrai! It was so basic a ploy that she should be ashamed of what had happened. She moved onto the leader. He was a tall man wearing what seemed to be some rather archaic clothing, with braces holding his trousers up and a very old fashioned gun strapped to his belt. Looking into his eyes, she knew he meant business, and that she wasn't going to be able to get herself free without answering some questions. She only wondered how he'd react to those answers once he heard them.

"Not while she's here," she said with a toss of her head towards the cage at her right. She didn't look in that direction.

Jack lifted his chin as he considered her demand. "Don't you think she deserves an answer as to why someone is trying to kill her?" He stared into her eyes, noting her defiant expression. "I don't think you're in the position to be making demands Jren Gabrai," he said. Her eyes widened as he correctly referred to her guild designation. "I've had dealings with your group before," he continued. He leaned back against the table again. "I wonder if they still teach the story of the Marain in your teaching circles?" He asked in an idle voice, ignoring her twitch of recognition. He smiled. "If there's any question in your mind; that was me."

Ianto watched their interaction, feeling like he was missing something. It was obvious that Jack had some in depth knowledge of her guild, and in fact, had enough interaction that he either made it into their lore, or was good at bullshitting his way into making her think he had. He watched the young woman closely. She was dressed in a black robe which had an intricate black on black embroidery. It wasn't obvious until one looked closely, but Ianto assumed that was how Jack had recognized the woman's affiliation. Underneath the robe, she wore form fitting clothing. It was obvious that she could shed the robe should it prove to be a hindrance in a fight. Her hair had been pulled back into a severe braid, though their fight had pulled a lot of it loose so that it hung around her face. He involuntarily did a comparison by glancing over to Sian and back. The more one looked, the more the differences could be seen. Where Sian had a rounder face, no doubt brought about by her pregnancy, the assassin had a very thin face, almost too thin. He had felt the tensile strength of her body during their struggle. Despite the fact that there had been two men holding her, she had almost broke free from them, even after having been stunned. He remained alert, not trusting the straps to hold her down should she figure a way to get out of her restraints.

"I'm waiting," Jack said. She refused to answer and he sighed. "All right, we'll do it the hard way." He pushed off from the table and headed towards a set of cables that were lying on the floor next to the chair. "It will just take me a moment to hook this up." Ianto picked up the gun he had put aside and aimed it at the assassin as Jack moved closer. Jack picked up a metal device and placed it on her head, strapping it down so that the metal constricted around her temples. She tried to hold back a shiver of dread as she felt the cold metal against her skin.

"Wouldn't it defeat the purpose of getting answers if you end up killing me in the process?" She finally asked. Jack had bent over to pick up the cable and glanced in her direction before uncoiling it.

"Well, either way, you're out of the picture, so I suppose the point is moot," he said with a shrug. "I'm willing to gamble on the fact that we'll get some answers before we toast you. If not, well, you won't be much of a problem, other than a little extra work for my staff to ditch your body." He met her gaze steadily, showing that he was serious about what he said.

She stared down at him, recognizing the eyes of someone who had been a killer, and knew that he didn't care, other than for the inconvenience for his staff. There was no emotion in his gaze as he met her eyes with his own. He was ready to do what he had to in order to get his answers or eliminate the threat. She weighed her options.

Jack started stretching the cable out towards a computer console. "Todd, I'll need you to tie into this console to monitor brainwave activity. Though honestly, if she doesn't talk, all I'm interested in is knowing when she's going to blow so we can get out of the way," he said. Todd nodded and turned back to his keyboard and tapped the keys as Jack connected the cable trunk to the back of the computer he was at. He stood up and activated something on the console. "All right, it's ready for you to take over." He turned and headed back towards the chair.

Sian watched with a horrified expression on her face. She didn't dare say anything. She hoped that the captain was bluffing, but there was something very cold about his actions that made her think that he wasn't. She wasn't sure she wanted to witness anyone, especially a far off descendent who was bent on killing her – die in such a fashion. She closed her eyes and covered her face, not wanting to watch what happened next. She couldn't block her ears, but she desperately wanted to.

Julia's face was impassive as she watched. She hoped that Jack wasn't serious, and that he was just pulling an act to get the woman to talk, but judging by the way Ianto watched what was going on, she was afraid she was going to be witness to something truly horrific if it all went wrong. She looked over to where Rob was braced, ready to shoot if he had to. Sighing, she sat back down and waited to see what would happen. She thought that if it truly got that far, she might be able to say something to stop Jack, but from his very deliberate movements, she thought he would go ahead with this, regardless to whatever it was she had to say.

Once Jack was in position he raised his hand, knowing that the assassin was watching his every move. "On my mark," he said, lifting a single finger. "One." She could hear the sounds of hands on a keyboard and knew that the system was being prepped to start. "Two." She felt a faint vibration in the chair and a tingling of the device on her head. Then Jack opened his mouth to give the order to start.


	95. Chapter 95

"Fine," the woman said, flinching just as he started to raise his third finger. Jack paused, his hand still lifted upwards as he waited. "You want to know why I'm doing this?" She looked around the room. "Because I am ashamed."

Jack looked nonplussed by her statement. "Ashamed of what?"

"Ashamed of my clan," she said, practically spitting out her answer. Ianto noted that her cheeks had two pink spots of anger as whatever it was that upset her overrode her ability to control her body's responses. "If you know of the Gabrai, then you are not from this timeframe. You must know of the great clans of Amural," she continued. Jack nodded grimly. He suddenly had a feeling he knew where this was going. "My family served the Distari of the Amural, a distaff clan of that royal family. The Distari picked a battle with the Olfrani, using their warriors to infiltrate their home planet and to kill off that branch." Jack was following her explanation, having read about it in history texts as a child.

"It's a historical point in time," he said. "The massacre happened." She nodded in response. "So what does that have to do with you?"

"Jafras of the Ofrani was killed by my father just as he was about to broker peace with three other races. It would have brought the end to civil war in that part of the galaxy, and much prosperity to the people who had done nothing to warrant being caught in the middle of the war. My father knew this was happening, yet went through with the mission anyhow."

"He was contracted to do so," Jack responded. He had lowered his hand and he leaned back against the table again. "It was an obligation."

"It was wrong," she spat back, spittle glistening against her lips. "It was a stain of dishonor."

"Wouldn't it have been dishonorable to not go through with the commission?" Jack asked. He found himself curious about her answer. He knew how complex the clan associations in that galaxy were, having had his own dealings there himself. They were a touchy and prickly group of people.

"His actions were shameful," she repeated doggedly. From the intense look in her eyes, he realized he was dealing with a fanatic. "He ignored the greater good in exchange for personal honor. That is reprehensible."

"So, you sought to change what happened," Jack went on. She jerked her head in agreement. He thought about it for a moment. "You couldn't change the immediate past because of the Proliency principle," he murmured, thinking it through while she sat there. "No doubt there was a time lock on the incident as well. So you thought that if you went back far enough in time you could erase your father's existence, thus changing what happened."

"Yes," she bit out the word.

"But if you succeeded, you would cease to exist," Jack said, referring to Einstein's theory of time travel. "A bit of a paradox there, isn't it? And you would never know if you succeeded, because you wouldn't be there to confirm that it changed the course of events. It doesn't seem too practical an idea if you ask me."

"I did some research before I embarked upon this course of action," she said. "My father was the only one capable of doing this deed. There was no one else in the family who could have accomplished it, and no other assassin clan available to step in. It would have worked."

"And why come back to the 22nd century?" Jack asked. He was totally focused on her and had forgotten his staff surrounding him. "Surely you could have just gone back a generation and done the deed, rather than wipe out your whole clan in the future."

The assassin looked over towards the cage and then back at Jack. "That's the part I don't want to speak about in front of her."

"Why not?" Jack asked. He was curious. He knew the guild of Gabrai and there wasn't a lot of emotional ties when it came to killing people. They were efficient killers trained to not care about their victims. Which was why, he realized, she could contemplate this thing without an emotional response. So if she didn't want to speak in front of Sian, it had to be for another reason.

"You mentioned the Proliency principle," the young woman stated. It looked like she was choosing her wording carefully. "Obviously, you are trained in the study of probability when it comes to time travel." Jack just stared at her, not acknowledging her assumption. "If you know of that, you will know of the Eshara principle as well."

Jack nodded. It all began to make sense. The Eshara principle was a theory that if one went back into a timeline, there were only so many pivotal points in history that could be theoretically touched without the fabric of time itself becoming undone. These points, if mapped by someone who could see it, would look like knots on a web, separate from other connecting lines, but close enough to them so that if one pathway were closed, the open end of the timeline would stitch itself to the adjoining thread, thus healing the damage caused by the break. The rest of the universe would go on without pause, thus avoiding a time crash.

"That is, of course, only a theory and never proven," Jack stated. He could tell from the way Ianto shifted that he was a bit mystified by this conversation. He reflected that it must sound like they were speaking in code – two people from the future talking about a science that did not exist yet. "However, going upon the assumption you suggest, then this point in time would be considered an Eshara node."

She nodded. "Exactly. It also had the added advantage of it affecting only a small number of people, avoiding a ripple effect," she said. Jack shook his head at her comment.

"Define small, Jren," he said, using her guild title. "What you've done is to disrupt an innocent person's life for a theory that you don't know would work. In the process, you have caused more damage than you've realized by multiple attempts, thus destabilizing this point in time. In effect, you've already changed the future by tampering in the past. Time is not immutable, but it is something that is very fluid. The side effects of your actions are already having consequences."

"That's impossible," she stated, firm in her belief that she had chosen correctly, and the only change would be to her own personal timeline. "I did the research…"

"But you have no practical knowledge," Jack stated flatly. He slapped the table with the palm of his hand, making Julia jump in reaction. "You don't _know_ how time will react. You can only _guess._ And I think you've made a mistake." He pushed away from the table and leaned into her chair. "In fact, I _know_."

"How can you know?" She asked.

"Because I was a time agent," he said simply, causing her to gasp. "And ironically, I did the clean up for your little operation." He heard Ianto inhale softly as he put two and two together. "Never could trace the point of origin for the final attack you tried because I got sidetracked by a bounce. " He chuckled softly and looked back at the Kralyro nosecone and shook his head. "A bounce caused by myself in the past." He shook his head. "Timelines. Hell to play with and they cause more trouble than trying to eat a plate of spaghetti with a pair of chopsticks." The woman gave him a confused look, but he didn't elaborate. "Suffice to say, you failed. And the consequences of your actions are probably going to cause the exact scenario that you tried to avoid. Because, guess what? The events you put in motion will now trigger a chain of events which puts your clan exactly where it is supposed to be."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I tried to stop it. All of those innocent people dead…"

"And innocent people were dying right here," Jack said, slapping the arm of the chair. "Do you know what you did? You broke not only a hundred rules regarding probability assassination policies, but you did it using a proscribed species. But for a bit of luck and 20th century building techniques which stopped that race from potentially causing far more harm than they did, you could have potentially caused more damage than you did." He leaned back and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

"You killed four innocent people, one of them which happened to be your ancestor. They died horrible deaths because of your actions." He took a step back, feeling his anger beginning to overcome him and knew if he didn't step away, he'd do something stupid. "And in the process, you failed in your mission. You missed the target. What kind of assassins are the Gabrai training these days? Whatever happened to the honor of a face to face kill? Yeah, that's right," he said with a nod as he watched her face go pale. "The Gabrai are well known for their reputation for personal kills. They don't send others off to do their dirty work. Yet you did. You are a disgrace to your profession," he said. She bowed her head, her face red with the shame of her actions.

"You are right," she said softly. She didn't look up at him. "In the heat of my anger and disgust, I went for expediency."

"It does show a certain lack of finesse," Jack said, his anger suddenly dissipating. "Jren, why do it at all? What did you think you would accomplish?"

"To restore the honor of my clan, which was lost," she said, though there wasn't much conviction in her voice this time. He shook his head. "No?"

"No," he said. "Did you ever stop to think that event needed to happen? That because of that one point in time, it changed the course of three races that were headed for certain destruction?" Jack moved away from her and turned toward his staff, who were all watching their conversation intently. He turned and looked at Sian's confused face. He knew he needed to explain it in such a way that would get through to Jren, and to show her that she couldn't change what happened by coming back into the past.

"No!" She cried, her eyes lit by some internal fanaticism for her cause. "They were destroyed by my father! There would have been peace if not for him! They were destroyed before they could see that peace." Jack shook his head. "They were! I saw it myself!"

"What you saw was the fall of a planet," Jack told her. "Life was lost. No getting away from that fact. But what you failed to look for was how that one single event changes the course of your own future." She gave him a confused look. "You didn't look ahead. Didn't wait to see what would happen. And so you acted, and not wisely."

"But…" she protested, clearly not wanting to hear what he had to tell her. "You can't know that!"

"I do know that!" Jack retorted. "Because it is my past I'm talking about! I know what happened! And you made a flawed decision because you didn't think ahead." Her mouth was open in shock. "That one single event galvanized the rest of the republic. They acted. They had been sitting on their collective arses for centuries, all insular, none wanting to rock the boat because it wasn't convenient.

"Then Ofrani fell. Because of that one single event in time, they reacted. They banded together. They responded," he said passionately. "And their actions stopped a series of events that were in motion, and would have caused the destruction of five other worlds. It formed a new working relationship between the core worlds in the Strannen galaxy. Something that had never been seen before. Something that will exist through time to what was my present. And damn will go on long after we're all dead and buried," Jack said. Ianto snorted softly behind him but he ignored it. "But because of your actions, all that is now in jeopardy." He really didn't know whether it was or not, and highly doubted it, since she failed in her mission, but he felt he had to scare her into realizing that she couldn't take matters into her own hands. She stared at him, shocked beyond words by what he had to tell her. "All because you didn't think."

She looked stricken by what he said. She had thought she was smart, and had researched everything she had needed to in order to redeem what she felt was a failure by her father to help innocent people. She thought he had been selfish and had only thought of his own honor by finishing his commission. She hadn't thought further than the shame it had brought her, personally. She let out a shuddering breath as she considered all of the ramifications of what Jack had to tell her. She didn't even question the fact that he was telling her the truth. He spoke with too much conviction, and knew too much for someone from the 22nd century. It had to be true. And she had failed to foresee it.

Jack stood back and watched as she worked it all out for herself. He had told her more than he normally would have, but he had to make her see that she couldn't keep with this course of action, and that to do so would cause irreparable harm. He appreciated her drive and her passion, but it was misguided. If his words made her think, then she would stop trying to kill Sian and her children. Jack knew that if he were to send her back and she was still bent on this course of action that she would find another way. Even retcon wouldn't help in this situation. She was too focused for it to work, and would eventually regain the lost memories, but with no knowledge of her previous failure. So he couldn't go that route. He waited to see what she would say.


	96. Chapter 96

The woman bowed her head after a long moment, acknowledging that he was right. Jack held his breath and waited. After a long moment in time, she raised her head and met his gaze. Ianto watched the tableau in front of him, fascinated by the turn of events. He understood the passion that a person had for revenge, and had felt that same burning urge to change history himself in the past. He, however, had lacked the means to actually do anything. But Jack's words made him think. Had he been in that situation and tried to go back and changed the course of events, how different would his life have been? And how would changing something in his own life have repercussions in the rest of the world? He didn't think that it would be as far reaching as the events that this woman experienced, but he knew from past history with Torchwood how one change could cause ripples in time that would wash back at them. Abaddon was an example of that. He held his breath as he waited to see what the young assassin would say to Jack.

"You've made me see the error in my reasoning," she said. She then went on to say something in a language that Ianto didn't recognize. It was obvious that Jack did. He bowed in response and replied in the same language. Then he turned towards his team.

"It's over. She just gave her word that she would stop her attempts to kill Sian," he said. "We can let her go."

"Just like that?" Julia asked, feeling a bit skeptical that Jack would accept this woman at her word. Jack turned to look at her and nodded. "We just let her go back?"

"Yeah," he said. "Ianto, set her free." Ianto gave him a measured look before nodding and moving ahead to do exactly that. Rob took an involuntary step forward and checked himself as Jack turned to look at him. "She gave her word. She did it in the language of the guild, and it is a solemn promise that is only broken by the head of the Gabrai guild. She will not make any more attempts."

"You're sure?" Rob asked him, knowing that he probably was sure, but needing to ask anyhow. Jack nodded. Rob sighed and lowered his gun. "So what now?"

"We send her back. She doesn't belong here in this time line and staying here longer than necessary may cause us some problems with the rift," Jack said. He turned to Sian who had been watching the exchange with a fascinated look on her face. She had barely followed the conversation, but understood the gist of it all. "You can come out now," he told her. She looked at him dubiously before nodding. She carefully stood up and a moment later Julia opened the door to the cage and helped her out.

Sian stood just outside the cage, looking at the woman who could have been her sister. A woman who was her age, but with such a far different understanding of the world. She could never imagine killing anyone for a living, nor feeling honor for doing so. The thought left her uneasy as she looked into the eyes of a killer. A killer who was a distant relative, and a child many times removed. It was a sobering thought that her unborn child would someday produce other offspring which would then have other children, going through years, decades and centuries. It didn't seem possible, if not for the fact that she had witnessed the extraordinary events with her own eyes.

Ianto finished unbuckling the restraints and stepped back, deliberately keeping himself between the assassin and Sian. Jack hid a smile. Good old Ianto, standing in the way of certain death because he felt it was the right thing to do. Jack was glad that this time, it wouldn't be necessary. Jren stood up and carefully moved in the other direction, cognizant of the fact that they were all watching her closely.

"I am in your debt," she said with a deep bow in Jack's direction. "You stopped me from certain destruction if what you say is true."

"It is," Jack said, confident that she believed him, though her words held a bit of doubt. "Be patient when you get back and watch. But you can say nothing, or it may skew the events. Also, the Thral'dor must never be used in such a fashion again. I assume you got the coordinates from the guild archives, correct?" Jack asked. The young woman nodded. "You must destroy them, because no one else should have access to a proscribed species." The assassin stiffened at his command, but Jack pressed on. "One person doing the wrong thing caused enough death," he said, making her flinch at the harsh tone in his voice. "But for a bit of luck, you could have potentially eliminated the human race before it ever got to the stars. Thus changing the course of history and many other races' destinies. They are too dangerous for someone else to find again. If you go back, you need to promise me that you will destroy those coordinates as well as any mention to opening the time portals. Can you do that?"

"On my word as a member of the Gadrai, I will do as you command, Franar. I will also say nothing," she said with another bow, using the honorific of her guild and referring to him as a mentor. He smiled wryly at her choice of word. Jack responded in that foreign language again and nodded in response. She stood for a moment, looking at him before squaring her shoulders and turning towards Sian, who could be seen over Ianto's shoulder.

"I apologize deeply for my actions, Sian Davies," the assassin said with another bow in the direction of the woman she had been trying to kill. "It was a grave error in judgment on my part. I am sorry for the pain I caused you and yours, and hope that you may forgive my transgression. I wish I could turn back the clock and stop the events as they occurred and bring your husband back to you, but I cannot do so. I can only apologize, though that is a poor substitute for what you have lost." Again she bowed.

Sian looked at her steadily, knowing that some response was expected, but at a loss for what to say. She wracked her brain for some comment and finally came upon something to say. "I hope that you have learned from this experience. Actions have consequences and what you do reflect not only on yourself, but those around you."

Her descendent lowered her head and bowed again. "Truth," she said. She turned, having said her piece to Sian. Looking at Jack she tilted her head. "And how do I get back?" Jack sighed.

"We open the portal and you go through. Hopefully, enough time has passed that my partner and I have left. If not, you will have to be careful not to get caught. Now if I remember correctly, my partner had headed up to the next level to see who was there. Was it anyone who was familiar with what you were doing?"

Jren shook her head. "No. There was a block between the floor I was on and the next, the other had no idea that I had been down there working. That level had been sealed off for a while, so no one would have thought to look there for me. And it was a convenient place to hide the time device." She hesitated. "It will be gone, yes?" Jack nodded.

"Yeah, I took the core and brought it back to the agency," he said with a nod. "What's left are useless components." He turned in Todd's direction. "Todd, we need to open the portal again. Hopefully you can get the same coordinates. That lower level would be a perfect place to return, and Jren can stay down until it is safe." Todd nodded and turned towards his keyboard. He pulled up a program he had had in abeyance and activated it. The Star of Africa started to glow and the lights on the circuit board started flashing.

Jack gestured for Jren to move over to the side as they awaited the opening of the portal. Ianto remained where he was, a protective barrier between Sian and her distance offspring. Rob stood at attention, poised to pick up his gun again, should that prove necessary. He was fairly confident that he wouldn't need it for her, but who knew if the portal backfired and they ended up looking into the heart of the Thral'dor homeworld. He hoped that didn't happen. They were too spread out and not prepared if that were to happen.

Jack stood and watched as a faint glow formed at the front of the nosecone of the Kralyro ship. It began to grow, the colors fluctuating as they swirled around in erratic circles. Jren watched intently, focused on the formation of the portal. Fingers of colored light began to lick beyond the edge of the circle, reaching through reality and time to another dimension. The portal grew larger.

Ianto felt the hair on his arms stand up, and he knew it was working. Whether the portal would open at the correct destination was something he fervently hoped would happen. He didn't fancy a visit from an alien menace. From Jack's stance, he was expecting it all to work smoothly. Ianto only hoped that his optimism wasn't misplaced. He spared a glance at Todd who was typing, his lip between his teeth as he concentrated on his display. Ianto sent a silent prayer to whoever watched over madmen to keep them from harm.

The wind picked up out of nowhere, the breeze moving the paper that had been tossed around into the air again as the weaving colors moved faster in the portal window. Ianto fought the urge to twitch in reaction. He looked over to Jack who stood as still as a stone as he watched the portal form. Jren stood by his side, her face impassive. The opening spread wider as the connection was made. Briefly, they heard a distance scream and saw a dark void. Ianto knew that was the Thral'dor homeworld. It looked like a vicious place, and a moment later he felt his stomach lurch as the scene changed, the image wavering for a long moment before resolving into dark walls on the other side of the portal. Jack lowered his wrist, having activated the leapfrog technology with his vortex manipulator.

Sian gasped, feeling sick by the sight of the brief image of the Thral'dor. That one brief glimpse brought back to mind the claw reaching through to her, and she shuddered. Ianto put his arm around her protectively and she found herself leaning into his embrace, her face buried against his chest.

Jack spared a brief glance in their direction. He was glad that Todd's program was working as it should and that he had been able to activate the jump in a timely manner. He didn't fancy one of those beasts getting through that brief opening, and was glad that it wasn't any longer than it had been. As the walls of the distant world came into focus through the shimmering portal, Jack turned towards the woman at his side.

"It's stable. You can go through now," he told her. She turned to look at him and nodded gravely.

"Thank you, Franar," she said with a deep bow. "I am in your debt."

"Just do me a favor and think before you act the next time," he told her. She gave him another careful nod. "All right, time to go. Be careful and make sure that the Time Agents are gone before you go up the stairs. They won't come down, so you're safe staying below until you hear them leave."

"Yes, Franar," she said. She stepped in front of the portal and paused, glancing about the room at the team assembled around her. She had a lot of think about. Her last look was towards Sian and she nodded and bowed in her direction one last time before turning to Jack. "Farewell."

Jack nodded but didn't say anything. He watched as she stepped forward, pushing her way through the portal. There was a brief swirl of color and light and when it cleared he could see her crouching on the other side, head cocked to one side as she listened carefully. She stood up, turned towards the portal and waved.

"Shut it down," Jack said. Todd complied and a moment later the wind died down as the portal closed with a snap. Jack stared at the space before the nosecone for a long moment before sighing. It was over.

"She's gone?" Sian asked. Jack turned in her direction and nodded. "And there will be no more attacks?" She wasn't sure if she wanted to believe that it was real. She was afraid that they would take this woman at her word only to have something else happen.

"She gave her word of honor," Jack told her with a nod. "She will not break that vow on pain of death."

"Who's going to know if she breaks it?" Rob asked. Jack smiled at him.

"She will. Honor is exceedingly important to her. Her vow was permanent. She won't break it," Jack assured him. He turned towards Sian. "You're safe now."

"Safe," she murmured and suddenly seemed to remember that she was clinging to Ianto. She hastily dropped her hands from around his waist and stepped back, a blush on her cheeks. "Does that mean it's over? I can go home?" She stopped short at that thought. "Oh God, my home…"

Jack knew where her thoughts were going. "We'll clean it up," he assured her. "Or we can find you a new home, someplace that you can start fresh." He reached out and touched her hand lightly, trying to reassure her.

"No, the home I have will be fine, if you can fix the front room," she informed him. "After all, it is my home, and the place I planned to raise my child. Joshua picked it out and did most of the renovations himself. No place else would feel right."

Jack nodded. "Okay. We'll fix it up and get it ready for you to move back in," he promised her. She smiled and nodded. "In the meantime, you must be tired."

She nodded, feeling drained by the events of the day. The adrenaline that had filled her had faded and she felt very tired. "A bit," she admitted. She turned and looked towards the OR.

"Oh, no need for you to stay there," Jack assured her. "If you want, you can go back downstairs. Then after you've rested, I'd be happy to put you up someplace outside of here so you can be more comfortable." He heard the cog wheel door open and a glance told him that Todd had brought Sherry down and dropped the force field that had been protecting the rest of the Hub.

"Oh, you don't have to do that. It would be so expensive!" She cried, not wanting to cause any more trouble than she had already. She smiled at Sherry as the other woman approached and gave her a big hug. "Besides, my friends are here. This is fine enough until you get my place back together."

"Okay, if you're sure," Jack said. She nodded firmly and he smiled at her. "Go rest. We'll let you know when your home is ready to move back in." She began to turn away before she paused. Glancing aside at Ianto, she moved over to Jack and gave him a hug. He was surprised at first, but hugged her back. Then she turned to Ianto.

"Thank you so much for everything you've done," she said to him.

"It's been my pleasure, Sian." Ianto smiled down at her and impulsively she wrapped her arms around him in a hug as well. He gave Jack a surprised look before returning her hug. "Hopefully you'll still be thanking us after we finish redecorating your parlor."

"I'm sure whatever you come up with will be fine," she said. She pulled back, feeling suddenly awkward. "I think I should probably go rest. It's been a bit of a stressful day," she said. The others nodded and Sherry led the way back down to her original room. Once they were out of sight, the others relaxed.

"Is it really over?" Julia asked. Jack nodded and she sighed. "Good, I think the stress has been a bit much the last few days."

"That's for certain," Rob agreed as he started picking up the guns he had placed around the playroom. Ianto went over to help him collect them, and together the two men made short work of their former preparations for an invasion. "Thanks, Ianto."

"Anytime, Rob," Ianto replied. He looked around the space. "Next on the order of business would be dismantling this, right?" He asked, patting the Kralyro nosecone with his hand. "Or do you foresee another trip in the not too distant future, Jack?"

"Heck no!" Jack said with a laugh. "I didn't like going there the first time around. The second was about all I am willing to do, thanks." He grinned at the other man before turning and looking at the circuit board mounted on the side. "Look, not even a scratch!" he said as he pulled the board off the side, creating some sparks from the residual energy that was still coursing through the board. "Oops!"

"Are you trying to break that diamond, Jack?" Julia asked with an exasperated sigh as she watched him belatedly attempt to disconnect the wiring from the circuit board. Jack laughed outright at her comment.

"I told you, Jules, this diamond is indestructible," he said, looking up and winking at her. "We don't care about the rest."

"You keep on swinging it around like that and you may find it isn't as indestructible as you think," she retorted. "After all, I'm sure there's several elements in the Hub that could do damage, even to a diamond. Let's not tempt fate, if you please."

"All right," Jack agreed. He had only been teasing, but he could see that both Rob and Julia were worried about the diamond, so he figured he should let them off the hook for a change. They had had one hell of a day, and deserved a bit of a break. He moved the board over to the table where he had been working on it previously and laid the board down on the top. "There, are you happy?"

"Well, short of you moving out in the next half hour or so, I suppose this will have to do," Julia replied tartly. She bent over to examine the diamond and didn't notice the look of surprise on Jack's face. Ianto had caught his expression and had to turn away before he started laughing. Her comment did surprise him, though. She obviously didn't forget what Jack had said and was determined to hold him to his word. Ianto walked over to the table and looked down at the gem, which was still glowing faintly.

"It looks like it's fading," he commented. Julia glanced up at him and nodded.

"Indeed," she agreed. She stood up and sighed. "Well, if that goes back to normal, it's one less thing we need to worry about." She stepped back and watched as Rob came back from the armoury. A glance over at Todd showed that he had shut down his special programs and was monitoring the rift for any nascent activity that might have been caused by their activities. He was staring closely at the screen, checking the minute fluctuations in the patterns. She swept a glance around the room. Ianto had walked over to the nosecone and had started to pull the wiring the Jack had just ripped off the board from its counterpart on the Kralyro ship. Jack had his arms crossed, and was surveying his team with a look of satisfaction on his face. She smiled wryly. It felt like everything was getting back to normal.


	97. Chapter 97

"So, it's really over?" Julia started at the sound of Sherry's voice. The woman had returned from the lower levels and was standing by her elbow. She was watching everything as well, and looked a little nervous that they were dismantling everything so fast.

"Apparently," Julia said with a nod. "Obviously, Jack took that woman's word as her bond, so hopefully she'll be true to it and not cause us any more problems. And I think we're due a break after the last few weeks we've had. Don't you?" Sherry nodded in agreement. "Now, how about I help you put something together so we can all sit down and debrief once they've finished cleaning up?"

Sherry nodded her agreement and the two women went over to the kitchen to put together some coffee and tea for the group. It was now well after midnight. Sherry yawned before apologizing to the doctor for being so rude.

"I hadn't realized how much time had passed!" Sherry exclaimed as she finally caught sight of the time. The utilitarian clock mounted on the kitchen wall showed that it was getting closer to one o'clock in the morning. "That all seemed to go so fast!"

"Oh, I don't know. There were moments there where I felt that time was moving rather slowly," Julia commented. She thought back to those long moments when Jack had disappeared, followed by the wait after Ianto had gone through. She noticed that Jack hadn't said anything to Ianto about it, though maybe he had on the other side. She was curious as to what had happened, and hoped that Jack would tell them. Several years ago, she would have laughed at the idea that she would have taken seriously the idea of someone traveling not only to a distant planet, but through time itself. Torchwood had changed her views. Jack Harkness had changed the way she viewed the world. The thought made her pause and she turned to look at the man who had turned their lives upside down.

Jack was crouched down next to Ianto, talking in a low voice as Ianto worked at disconnecting the mass of wires from the Kralyro circuit board. Ianto had a slight smile on his face as he listened to Jack ramble on, and Julia nodded in satisfaction. Turning away, she finished helping Sherry put together a tray for the group and helped carry it over to the playroom.

"Mandatory union break," she announced with a clap of her hands after putting the tea service down on the empty table where Ianto had worked. Rob gave her a grin in acknowledgement as he put down the equipment he had been stacking on a cart. Ianto looked up briefly before continuing to finish what he was doing. Jack stood, pushing himself upwards with the help of Ianto's shoulder. Ianto grunted in response.

"You heard the doctor, Ianto. Break time," Jack said with a grin. Ianto rolled his eyes and finished removing the last of the tie line cables. Leaning on the ship, he stood up. He stifled a groan. The struggle with Jren had left him with sore muscles and no doubt bruises, he thought wryly. He dumped the wires on the cart before heading over to the other table where Sherry and Julia had trays of freshly brewed tea and coffee.

Jack got there first and picked up a mug which he handed to Ianto. Ianto nodded his thanks and leaned back against the railing as he took a sip of the hot coffee. He closed his eyes, savoring the moment. A low chuckle and the slight give of the railing to his left signified Jack's presence.

"So what now?" Sherry asked as she made the rounds to the rest of the team.

"We sleep for about a week?" Rob suggested with a hopeful note in his voice as he accepted a mug from Sherry.

"If only," Julia responded. "I fear that the rift won't be so accommodating towards letting us all do that, however." She had settled on tea and gratefully wrapped her hands around the warm cup. It wasn't so much the liquid as the act of holding it that was what she needed.

"Unfortunately," Todd said with a tired sigh as he sat on the edge of the nosecone and took the proffered mug from Sherry. She had added in his required sugar and cream until it looked more like milk than coffee. He looked around the room with tired satisfaction, knowing that at least this problem had been dealt with. Hopefully, it wouldn't come back to haunt them. But he trusted Jack's judgment that it had been sorted.

Jack watched as his team slowly wound down. They had been through a lot, and once again, they had survived, for the most part. They would feel Kip's loss for some time to come, but they would go on. It was what they had to do.

He was startled out of his reverie by the brush of Ianto's hand against his own. He looked to his side, but Ianto was watching Julia and Rob as they chatted. Jack looked down at his hand, which was right next to Ianto's on the railing. He reached out and covered Ianto's hand, feeling the warmth of the other man's skin beneath his fingers.

Ianto didn't look over, but he turned his hand so that he was able to clasp Jack's. It was a tiny gesture, but one that Jack knew said a lot. It showed that Ianto was comfortable with the new team, enough to be able to show how he felt in front of the others. Jack smiled. A moment later, he realized that the group had grown silent and that Rob was looking expectantly in his direction. He had a feeling he had missed something, since the others were watching him as well.

"There's not much to say," Ianto responded for him. "The other side looked like something out of a medieval castle. When I went over, I followed the sound of fighting up the stairs and into Jren's laboratory. She and Jack were fighting for the upper hand. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time and was able to stun her enough for us to gain control and bring her back. And you saw the rest."

Julia shook her head in wonder. "All that effort because she was ashamed of something her father had done. What would lead one to think that it was better never to have existed at all? I can't think that would be an option that a person would want to choose."

"You have to understand the dynamics of clan structure in the 48th century," Jack said. He was pleased that even with everyone's attention on them, Ianto hadn't pulled away. He squeezed Ianto's hand lightly before continuing. "By that point in time there was a neo-renaissance movement going on, but it was a bit skewed, since it veered away from a true renaissance age. For one thing, the clan thing came from the predominant political group that stems back to the 45th century. For another, they got the whole classical architecture thing wrong. The things I could tell them about…."

"Jack," Ianto said in a low voice, interrupting him and stopping him from going off onto a tangent. Jack paused and grinned, aware of what Ianto was trying to do.

"Oh, right," Jack said. He paused for a moment to drag himself back on track. "Anyhow, by the 48th century the clan stuff was almost akin to the dynastic Chinese structure in terms of honor going back generations. So staining one's honor not only reflects on oneself, but also that of one's children and relatives. In the Jren's mind, better to never exist than to bear witness to what she perceived as a shameful act such as her father's. Though really, he was between a rock and a hard place."

"Damned if he did the assassination because of the political implications and damned if he didn't, since he would then violate a contract, which sounds like it was also a point of honor," Rob commented. Jack nodded.

"Exactly. But his daughter couldn't see that, because all she saw was the shame of his actions without looking to see how the rest of the universe would react," Jack said. He took a sip of his coffee.

"Why didn't the Shadow Proclamation step in?" Ianto asked. He turned towards Jack, who shrugged.

"Any number of reasons. Someone needs to complain for one thing, and all of the people who could were dead. The Proclamation won't accept a complaint from a third party," Jack said with a shrug. "Politics never change."

"And your friend, the Doctor?" Julia asked. "What about him? Wouldn't something like this draw his attention?"

Again, Jack shrugged. "It's a big universe, in fact, multiple universes. The Doctor could have been tied up with something else, or perhaps he was elsewhere and couldn't do anything about it. Or perhaps he knew that it had to happen in order for there to be lasting peace amongst the different people there and that it would be the dawn of a new age that would last for over five thousand years."

Rob looked thoughtful. "That must be hard, knowing what is going to happen and not being able to change it." Jack nodded.

"It is. You can be at a certain point in time, know what is going to happen and not be able to say anything because if you do, it will irrevocably change what could be a pivotal point in history. But it was the one thing that was drilled into us at the agency, and also something that the Doctor had to beat over people's heads a few times. There's always something you want to go back to and change, and you can't."

"Like the time war," Ianto said softly. Jack looked over at him and nodded.

"Yes. Knowing that a single event will result in the total destruction of one's race has to be one of the biggest temptations there can be," Jack said. Ianto gripped his hand, knowing he probably spoke from personal experience. Not that Jack had lost the human race, but not going back and saving his father and brother must have been a horrible internal struggle.

"What would happen if one were to go back in time and change a single pivotal event?" Julia asked in a thoughtful tone. Jack frowned.

"Trust me, you don't want to know," he said with a shake of his head. "It's not something you ever want to witness."

"But you have," Julia asked him, still curious. He nodded, but she got the feeling that he wouldn't discuss it further. There was a haunted look in his eyes that silently begged her not to ask further. "Well, let's hope that none of us will ever have to worry about it."

"I'll drink to that," Rob said with a nod. He drained his cup and put it down on the table. "What a night."

"What a week," Todd replied. He had finished his coffee but obviously the milk had outweighed the caffeine quotient because his eyes were drooping. "I think I'm going to crash here tonight." Sherry took the mug out of his hand just as he was losing his grip on it. Her quick movement startled him awake again. "Oops."

"I already made you up a room next to Sian's," Sherry told him. "Why don't you go downstairs before you fall over?" She stifled a tired giggle as he blinked owlishly at her. "Would you like me to show you the way?"

"No, I can manage, thanks," he said, his ego bruised that she seemed to be outlasting him this evening. He stood up and swayed. Jack exchanged a glance with Rob, who nodded.

"Come on, my friend. I think I'm going to crash here as well," he said as he stood up and walked over to where Todd was leaning against his console. He threw his arm around the younger man to support him. "Shall we stagger down together?" He made a show of yawning and rubbing his eyes with his free hand. Todd nodded, feeling better that he wasn't the only one who had been wiped by the experience. Together, the two men headed off underneath the archway that led to the lower levels.

Jack chuckled and pulling his hand free, wrapped it around Ianto's shoulders. "Well, my work is done. I've outlasted the men."

"Not all of them," Julia pointed out with a glance at Ianto who didn't look to be too exhausted, though she had noticed his wince earlier when he stood up. He didn't seem to be moving too stiffly, but she made a mental note to check him over in the morning. "There's still one other one standing."

Jack glanced to his right and grinned. "Ah, but Ianto is a special case," he said. "He's had many years of practice when it comes to outlasting me." Ianto remained silent, though he shook his head ruefully at Jack's comment.

"I'm sure there's a double entendre there that I really don't want to think about," Julia said with a smile. Jack's grin widened as she approached him and held out her hand for his coffee mug. He surrendered it to her without another word. "Calling it a night, gentlemen?"

"More like calling it an early morning," Ianto quipped with a smile. "But it would be the wise thing to do, I think." Jack nodded, but didn't reply. Sherry took the rest of the empty mugs back to the kitchenette and they could hear her washing up.

"Well then, I'll bid you adieu," Julia said. "I think it's also wise that we stay here. It doesn't make sense to go back to my flat for just a few hours."

"You're allowed to sleep in, you know," Jack said with a smile. "It will be well earned. And hopefully the pattern will hold after a timeswarm with a quiet couple of days afterwards."

"Hopefully," Ianto said. He let out a sigh. "Goodnight, Julia." She bid him a good evening and Ianto turned to Jack, dislodging the arm that had been around his shoulders. "Shall we?" Jack nodded and the two men pushed off of the railing. "I believe I know a place that has the most decadently comfortable bed," he said to Jack as the two started walking away from Julia.

"Is that a fact?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded and the two disappeared through the archway, their voices trailing off as they went below. Julia smiled after them.

"You look pleased about something," Sherry said with an amused tone. Julia glanced at her and raised an eyebrow.

"I suppose I am," Julia said with a nod. "Everything has been dealt with and in a very satisfactory way, considering the other possibilities. Now, hopefully," she said with a heartfelt conviction, "we can all settle down to a more normal life for a change."

"Well, as normal as Torchwood ever is," Sherry said with a smile. Julia acknowledged her comment and after a glance around the now empty room, moved to head over towards the lower levels.

"Oh, no one set the monitors," she said. Sherry waved her off with one hand as she lowered the lighting into the night mode.

"I'm sure that it will be dealt with," Sherry said with a nod. "Ianto won't forget something like that." She turned towards Julia, her face in shadow. "If there's one thing I've learned about my great, great uncle, is that he isn't one to forget a detail."

"No, I suppose not," Julia mused as the two women left the now darkened main room of the Hub. All was quiet, but for the occasional stirring from Myfanwy in her nest high above the Hub floor.

*


	98. Chapter 98

The quiet neighborhood of Kestral Close showed no signs of the traumatic event which had occurred there not too long ago. A group of people stood at the end of a walkway leading to a small house that was tucked away in one end of the cul-de-sac.

"Ready?" Jack asked the young woman who stood by his side. Sian Davies looked up at him and nodded. She could see that extensive work had been done to the exterior, with a new bay window on the front of the house, replacing the old ones which had been damaged in the attack.

"Yes, I'm eager to see how different it is," she said. Sherry stood by her side, ready to support her if it should prove too difficult for her to take in after everything that had happened. But she had become quite close to Sian over the past few weeks and she knew that Sian was more than ready for whatever memories she encountered. Sherry looked over to the man who stood behind Jack and off to the side.

"Let's go in then," Ianto said with a nod and a smile aimed at the two women. He led the way up the walk, Sherry and Sian following behind him with Jack bringing up the rear. When they reached the door, Ianto held out his palm. A key glistened in the wan winter light. "Here you go."

Sian took the key from Ianto and inserted it in the lock. The door was new. It was a lightly stained wood with etched windows in the frame. She opened the door and peeked in before taking a step inside. When she saw the room inside, she gasped softly.

Jack watched indulgently as the two women entered, leaving Ianto and himself to follow behind. Jack stood in the doorway and watched as Sian marveled at the work they had done. The room looked entirely different from before, with a bright color scheme that was cheery and light. A soft carpet had been laid down on the floor, and the furniture very tastefully matched the same style as the rest of the house. There was no sign of the devastation that had taken place only a few short weeks before.

"Oh Ianto, it's lovely!" Sian exclaimed. She made her way around the rocking chair that was near the hearth and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Ianto smiled down at her.

"I'm glad you like it," he said after returning her hug.

"It's perfect," she replied. "It couldn't be better." She turned to Jack. "Thank you, Jack. It will be a beautiful place to raise my child."

Jack returned her smile, happy that things had worked out. "We're glad you like it. We've added a few things here and there, but if there's anything else you need, just let us know. We'd be happy to help."

"Oh, you've done far too much already!" She protested. She crossed over to where he stood and gave him a hug. "But thank you."

"You're quite welcome," he told her in reply. He smiled down at the woman who positively glowed, her pregnancy making her more beautiful than before. "Now we're going to let you get settled and if there's anything you need, just let Sherry know. We've gotten used to spoiling you," he said, waving off her protests.

After another set of hugs, Jack and Ianto headed out the door, leaving Sherry to get Sian settled in. They had already moved in her clothes, food and everything she needed to get settled. The two men headed down the walk, satisfied with the way it had gone.

"Time to head back?" Ianto asked. He had the keys to his car in his hand. Jack nodded and they got inside. "I'm glad that went well."

"Yeah," Jack said. He watched as Ianto started the car and shifted into drive. They turned around in the small cul-de-sac before heading back towards the city center. "I love a happy ending."

"Yeah," Ianto responded. He glanced over at Jack a tiny smile on his face. "You're just a romantic."

"You think so?" Jack asked as Ianto turned a corner. He used the opportunity to lean across and briefly touch shoulders before moving upright in his seat again. "Well, that's not such a bad thing."

"Didn't say it was," Ianto commented with a smile. He continued on the straight away before taking another turn.

"Hey, the Hub is that way," Jack said. He looked out the window at the turn they should have taken.

"So it is," Ianto replied.

"Ianto, are you kidnapping me for some nefarious purpose?" Jack asked in a teasing voice.

"Nothing nefarious about it," Ianto replied calmly. "I checked in with Todd and everything's quiet, so we're heading home." Jack smiled. Home. A home that wasn't a subterranean level of the Hub. He liked the sound of that. He remained quiet as Ianto entered the industrial area where the Torchwood owned warehouse was located. Ianto pulled into a nearby parking space and shut the engine off. They got out and headed towards the warehouse door. Instead of Jack using his vortex manipulator to gain access, Ianto used his key. They stepped inside and Ianto closed the door, allowing Jack to lead the way upstairs to their flat.

The warmth of the lighting met them as Jack opened their door. He sniffed as he caught a whiff of food. "Oh, that smells good!" He turned in surprise as Ianto closed and locked the door, setting his keys on the small table in the hallway. "How did you manage that?"

"I'm Torchwood," Ianto said with a tiny smile as he walked past Jack towards the larger room beyond.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Jack asked with a confused look on his face as he followed Ianto into the central loft room.

"Jack," Ianto said with a shake of his head, as if it should be obvious. "I routinely deal with at least a dozen issues before breakfast when it comes to work. Why should you be surprised I can also manage to have dinner ready when we get home?" He pulled off his suit jacket and hung it up, trying to hide his smile at the look of bemusement on Jack's face.

Jack shook his head, not trying to think about it any further than Ianto's explanation. He removed his greatcoat and put it on the coat stand which stood off to one side. "It smells fantastic," he said as he turned around to see that Ianto was rolling up his shirt sleeves.

"Thank you," Ianto replied as he headed towards the kitchen, Jack trailing behind him. "Something to drink?"

"Let's see, you've got a roast cooking, let's go for some wine," Jack said with a grin as he leaned back against the island. Ianto nodded agreeably and selected a Pinot Noir, setting it out on the table before checking on the roast. Jack opened the bottle of wine and was just about to pour when the situation hit him – they were being domestic. He paused, the mouth of the wine bottle poised over one of the glasses and tested out how it felt. His smile grew. It felt good.

"The wine won't pour itself," Ianto pointed out as he leaned his chin on Jack's shoulder and wrapped his arms around his waist. Jack chuckled and resumed what he was doing. "What stopped you?"

"Us," Jack responded. "It just occurred to me that we've become settled down." He poured the second glass and put down the bottle. Picking up both, he turned in Ianto's arms and offered him one of the glasses. Ianto pulled away to accept the glass. He had a thoughtful look on this face.

"Strange, isn't it?" He said, quirking an eyebrow as he smiled wryly. "I have to admit it is something I never would have imagined for either of us." He took a sip from his glass, Jack mirroring his action.

"Never say never, Ianto," Jack said with a grin. "Something will always come around to challenge it."

"Very true," Ianto acknowledged with a smile of his own. "We still have a bit to wait until dinner's done. Shall we?" He asked, indicating the sofa. Jack nodded and together they walked over to the sofa and sat down. Ianto reached for the hidden remote control and music started playing on the stereo system. Jack smiled at Ianto's choice. He turned so that he was facing Ianto and raised his glass.

"A toast," he proposed. Ianto raised his glass as well.

"And to what are we toasting?" Ianto asked. He had his hand poised as he waited for an answer.

"To us," Jack said. "And to our team for allowing us to be an us."

Ianto frowned thoughtfully. "I don't think that is grammatically correct," he said as he considered what Jack said. "However, I do agree that our team is to be lauded for doing a fine job." He raised his glass. "I think that there would always be an us, however. Whether it's in the Hub, out on the docks retrieving something from the rift or here in this space."

Jack's eyes glinted with amusement. "Are you saying that we would be a couple regardless of the location?"

"We have been," Ianto said with a nod. "Though never in so many words." He clinked his glass against Jack's and they both took a sip. They looked at one another for a moment without saying anything. "I do admit it feels a bit weird though."

Jack nodded in agreement. "You too?"

"Yeah," Ianto said. "I keep on waiting for something to happen. Another disaster that takes down the city, or something comes after us from out of space. This quiet is…" Ianto paused as he tried to find the appropriate words.

"Unsettling?" Jack asked with a smile. Ianto nodded at his selection.

"Yeah, that," he said. "What else have we known over the years? The fact that there is a team that can function without us having to be there is a bit strange as well. I trust each of them and know they're the best. But I do have to admit it's a bit unsettling. That's a good word for this feeling, actually," Ianto said with a nod.

"Don't you think that after all this time you deserve a break?" Jack asked. Ianto smiled at him. "After all, it's about time you learned to live a little."

"Pot, kettle, black," Ianto said taking a sip between each word as he spoke. Jack laughed out loud at his response. "Jack, if anyone has earned that right, it would be you."

"Ya think?" Jack asked, sounding a bit skeptical. Ianto nodded.

"I do," he replied. He shifted closer to Jack and then leaned on the back of the sofa so that he could kneel. Jack watched with amusement as Ianto straddled his lap. "More than earned by several lifetimes of service," he continued. Jack had put an arm around his waist to support him as he leaned back so he could look down into Jack's eyes. He leaned down for a kiss. Just as their lips touched, the bell went off for the timer. Ianto sighed. "Even here, we get interrupted."

Jack chuckled and stretched up to give Ianto another kiss. "Forget it. Food is overrated." He found it awkward with having one hand occupied with the wine glass so he had to make do with his free hand holding onto Ianto's belt as he tried to break free to go check on their dinner.

"I'm not burning a roast, Jack," Ianto admonished him. He pushed off of the older man and stood up. "We are not doing take away this evening." Jack gave another rich chuckle as he watched Ianto move over to the kitchen area. He waited a beat, but when Ianto pulled the pan out of the oven he knew that the moment had passed. He pushed himself off the sofa and ambled over to the kitchen, leaning on the island counter as he watched Ianto.

"You're staring again," Ianto said as he set up their plates, his back to Jack.

"You say that like it is a bad thing," Jack said in reply. He knew he would never get enough of this other man. This man who he found extraordinary, and without whom he had felt lost. He shook away those maudlin thoughts of the time without Ianto and focused on the present. He took the plate that Ianto handed to him and they both made their way over to the small table set up against the floor to ceiling window. The table still had the bowl of fruit from breakfast a couple of days ago on it and Ianto pushed the bowl to the side to give them room. He then put a candle down in its place. Jack watched as Ianto lit the candle in the middle of the table before glancing over at him. Jack obliged to his silent request by using his vortex manipulator to dim the lights. They sat down and began to eat, neither one speaking.

Jack reflected on the number of times they had been able to just sit back and relax without feeling the constant vigilance of being ready to jump at a moment's notice. There weren't many of them in the past. He mentally tested the waters of how it felt now to know that he could finally step back. He expected to feel like he was missing something, but after thinking about it for a long moment, he realized he didn't. He trusted the people he had picked to handle it in his absence. It had been a long time for him since he had felt that way. It wasn't as if he hadn't had capable people in the past. He certainly had. But it was only now that he felt comfortable enough with himself to let go.

Ianto watched him, seeing thoughts flitter across his face in the form of different expressions while he ate. He was patient, letting Jack work things out for himself. He enjoyed the meal, knowing that for once they weren't going to have to walk away from it half finished to go on a rift call. Jack finished first, pushing his plate way and shaking his head to a suggestion of more. Instead, he rested his chin in his hand as he watched Ianto finish eating.

Jack stared at the familiar face before him. He reflected on everything that had happened, not only in the last couple of weeks, but in all the years he had waited for this man to be returned to him. He knew he was extremely lucky. It wasn't often that a person got a second chance. But thanks to Julia, he did have that chance. He decided to make the most of it while he still could. As Ianto finally set his fork down, Jack reached across to cover his hand. Ianto looked up at him and smiled.

"Figure it out yet?" He asked in a soft tone, not wanting to disturb the comfortable silence. Jack nodded. "Good."

"What about you?" Jack asked as Ianto turned his hand so that he could clasp Jack's in his own. Ianto nodded. "Good.

"So," Jack said when Ianto didn't add anything other than the nod. Ianto smiled knowingly at him. "What's next on your agenda, Mr. Jones?"

"I thought that might be a mutual decision," Ianto said. Jack raised an eyebrow in a silent question. "We have the rest of the night to ourselves. What would you like to do?"

Jack thought about it for a moment. "Lots of things we can do," he said. Ianto leaned back and stretched his legs out so that they brushed against Jack's.

"Such as?" Ianto prompted. He knew exactly where this conversation was headed and was amused.

"Naked hide and seek," Jack said. Ianto snorted and then looked around at the open floor plan. It didn't afford much in the way of hiding places. Jack followed his gaze and chuckled. "Or maybe not."

"Anything else?" Ianto asked with an expression of amusement on his face. "You're usually full of suggestions."

"There's the usual," Jack said. "Naked chess, checkers, uhm…" Jack watched as Ianto reached into the bowl off to the side and pulled a grape off the stalk. He immediately forgot what he was saying as he watched Ianto peel it with his teeth.

"Go on, I'm listening," Ianto said politely. Jack had to shake himself to get back to the topic at hand. Ianto suppressed a chuckle at the expression on the other man's face. "Both good ideas so far," he commented.

"What?" Jack asked faintly.

"You were listing ideas of what we could do this evening," Ianto prompted. He popped the grape into his mouth and chewed. "Mmmmm."

"I thought of something," Jack said. He reached into the bowl and handed another grape to Ianto. "Do that again, and I'll just watch." Ianto raised an eyebrow.

"What, like watching the telly?" He asked as he accepted the proffered piece of fruit from Jack.

"I was thinking of the more interactive type of telly," Jack said. "In fact, why not retire over to the sofa?" Ianto nodded agreeably and stood up. Jack picked up the bowl of fruit and carried it over to the coffee table. Ianto sat on the sofa, propping himself on the corner so that he could face Jack. He kicked off his shoes and sat crossed-legged while Jack took off his boots and did the same. Ianto had to fight the urge not to grin at the expression on Jack's face. He raised the grape up to his lips.

"Ready?" He asked. Jack nodded and leaned forward. Ianto bit the edge of the skin and began to pull it back. Jack unconsciously parted his lips as he watched, his eyes focused on Ianto's mouth. Ianto waited until he had peeled off the skin. He held the fleshy pulp in his fingers. "Jack?"

"Yeah?" Jack said in almost a whisper, his eyes locked on Ianto's lips.

"Where's the interactive part?" Ianto asked in an amused tone.

"Oh," Jack said as Ianto brought his focus back to the rest of his face. "We're getting to that."

"We are?" Ianto asked. Jack nodded and watched as he popped the grape into his mouth. "Seems a bit one sided to me at the moment."

"Here," Jack handed him another grape after reaching blinding towards the table and plucking one off the stem. "Try another one." Ianto's shoulders shook with silent laughter at the expression on Jack's face. He shook his head.

"Nope," he replied. Jack blinked.

"Nope what?" Jack asked with a confused look on his face.

"I think it's time you learned to do that trick," Ianto said with a grin. Jack raised an eyebrow and then looked down at the grape in his hand. "I want to see what's so alluring about it."

"Yeah?" Jack asked as he started to smile slowly. Ianto nodded. "All right then." He looked thoughtfully down at the grape, examining it where it puckered at the edges that had been attached to the vine. He lifted it to his mouth and with his teeth bit the edge of the skin and pulled it off, moving slowly. Ianto watched him carefully as he moved around he grape. "How's it working for you?" Jack asked around the grape.

Ianto shook his head. "Nope, don't get it." Jack pulled the grape away and Ianto nearly laughed out loud at the disappointed look on his face. "Keep on trying, though." Jack started on another bit of skin and began pulling it down, trying to make the movement slow and sexy. When he glanced up at Ianto, he still saw that skeptical look on his face. Jack popped that grape into his mouth and took another one.

"Let me try this again," he said. Ianto leaned back against the armrest and waited patiently. Jack tried again, but he felt like he was missing something. Ianto could see he was getting a bit frustrated and so he decided to take pity on him. He pushed off of the arm rest and leaned forward so that there were just a few inches between himself and Jack. Jack had paused when Ianto moved, his motion arrested as his attention was diverted.

"Wait, I think I got it this time," Jack said as he went to go reach for the now denuded bowl of fruit. Ianto stopped him from reaching the last of the grapes that still clung to the branches. "No?"

"No," Ianto said. "I think we need to practice together," he said. He finger walked down Jack's hand and took one of the last few grapes in the bowl. Then he brought it up to Jack's lips. "Try now," he said. Jack nibbled the edge of the skin. It felt weird, since he couldn't see where Ianto was holding it. But he was game to try.

Ianto reached down with his free hand and propped himself up on Jack's thigh, pulling himself closer so he could teach Jack how to eat a grape properly. Jack had to force himself not to squirm in reaction. He carefully ate the grape as Ianto held it. When all the skin was off, Ianto gently placed it between his lips and he leaned in to give Jack a kiss. They shared the grape between them.

"Was that better?" Jack asked in a husky voice.

"Mmm, think we need to try that again," Ianto responded. He reached into the bowl and brought another grape up to Jack's mouth to experiment again. They barely made it through that one when they abandoned the pretense of teasing one another and just went straight to making love, without the fruit accessories…

Halfway across the city, Dr Julia Ellis sat at her computer console inside the Torchwood Hub. She and Rob were on watch that evening, and she paused to look around the main room, smiling slightly.

"You look like the cat that got into the cream," Rob said as he leaned on the wall near her console. It had been a quiet evening so far and in fact had been a quiet couple of weeks. After everything that had happened, he was happy to see that the rift was remaining quiet. It had a lot to make up for, in his opinion.

"I guess I am," Julia mused as she smiled at her team mate. "We've done well here, Robert. And I just don't mean the resettling of Sian Davies back at home."

"You're referring to your wish that Jack finally relax and find a life, I presume?" Rob said with an amused expression. Julia nodded. "Do you think it will last?"

"Perhaps," Julia said. "Only time will tell. But I do think he's more than earned some time away from this place."

"Shall we take bets how long it lasts until he starts hanging around again?" Rob asked with a grin. Julia frowned at him.

"No, we shall not. Because I'm of the mind to think that he's finally realized that he can't truly take care of the world without taking care of himself and the people around him."

"Which means Ianto," Rob concluded. Julia nodded. He shrugged. "I can just see him getting restless."

"Oh, no doubt of that, but at least he'll be in touch with humanity for a while, which will help ground him. He needs that if he's going to remain sane in all this madness," Julia replied. "And if we don't see him until morning, I will be exceedingly happy that he's finally learning." Rob nodded and after leaving a cup of tea for Julia, turned back to his console where he was working on a report about the latest UNIT experiment with new weaponry. Julia watched him for a long moment. With a nod she decided that he was going to be her next project. After Jack, anyone else should prove easy by comparison.

She turned back to her console and finished off her log of the whole incident that she had dubbed the Kralyro experiment. These were her private notes on the team and the dynamics of the staff as they worked together, along with her observations during the events as they happened. She closed off the account and locked it to her private code. No need for anyone to see those, she thought to herself. She sat back in her chair and sipped her tea. Then, with a sideways glance in Rob's direction, she pressed a button that brought up a new window. It was a CCTV camera that she had tracked to the location of a local warehouse in the docks area. The camera showed the Ianto's new car parked under a streetlamp and she nodded thoughtfully. Glancing again at Rob, she rolled back the playback of the video until she saw the two men leave the car and head into the warehouse building beyond. She switched to another camera view at the top of a nearby building. It showed lights shining in the top floor flat, which she had marked down as that of her team mates. While the windows were tinted and therefore made it hard to see, she was able to track some movement inside. When the lights went off, she smiled in satisfaction and shut down the camera. It was enough to know that Jack and Ianto had settled for the night and weren't going to show up at Torchwood that evening. In her mind, all was right in the world and she could go onto the next challenge without worrying about Jack.

"Rob?" She said as she turned away from the monitor. He looked up from where he had been busily typing his report.

"Yes?" He said as he tried to focus on her and not on weapons that could potentially go rogue.

"Don't you think it's time that you start getting out more?" Julia asked with a smile. "After all, you can't be stuck in here day in and day out. You need to find a life outside of this place."

"Stop it," Rob said with an upraised hand. "No." She opened her mouth and he stopped her again. "I am not becoming your next project, so put that thought right out of your mind."

"But really, Robert," she began and he stood up and started to stride away towards the closest archway. "Where are you going?"

"The firing range. Don't try to follow me," Rob said as he paused in the archway and raised a finger in warning. "I'm warning you right now, I'll be armed. It can get very, very dangerous down there with stray bullets."

"But…" Julia tried to interject, but Rob was clearly not going to let her get a word in edgewise. "Rob."

"No!" Rob shouted as he descended the stairs. "I'm not listening! I'm not listening!" His voice echoed down the stairwell as he went, leaving Julia behind in the main room. She stared after him for a long moment before turning away and smiling.

"Jack didn't want to listen, either, but in the end he did," she said with a smile of satisfaction. She turned back to her computer and opened a new record. She named it Security Observations and with a smile started writing down everything she could think of in terms of things she knew about Rob. The night stretched on, the silenced marred only by the distant reverberation of gunfire from the shooting range and the tapping of Julia's fingers on the keys….

~FIN~

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_Author's Note:_ _I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed telling it to you. This story is now complete, and thank you to my readers who have nominated this story for a Children in Time award. I was touched that someone liked this story enough to nominate it, and I thank you for reading!_


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